With TV and streaming costs going up across the board these days, it’s nice to see an offer that can actually reduce your costs – with Sky offering significant discounts on Sky Sport, both via its NOW streaming service, and on Sky Glass and Sky Stream.
The new offer for Sky’s NOW customers comes at an interesting point in time – since the regular price of Sky Sports on NOW went up just a few days ago.
But for a limited time – new (or returning) NOW subscribers can get Sky Sports for £21/month, for up to 12 months – instead of the usual (after the increase) £34.99/m – and some can get it for even less (see more details below).
On Sky Stream and Sky Glass, Sky Sports is currently being offered for £20/month, instead of the usual £25/m – but only if you sign up for the 18-month contract.
On Glass and Stream, subscribers will also be getting the brand new Sky Sports F1 Ultra HD channel – which is launching this week (as long as they’re also paying for the UHD add-on, that is).
Sky Sports Offer On NOW
NOW (formerly known as NOW TV) is Sky’s original no-contract streaming service – a cheaper TV platform that gives you flexible packages (“memberships” of content), that can be watched on a large variety of streaming devices (so not just on Sky’s own puck, as is the case with Sky Stream).
NOW offers three main content packages (“memberships”):
- NOW Entertainment, at £9.99/m, with Sky’s TV channels, including Sky Atlantic, and content for kids.
- NOW Cinema, at £9.99/month. Identical to the Sky Cinema plan on Sky TV, with new blockbusters and back-catalogue films.
- NOW Sky Sports, normally at £34.99/month, or £11.98/day. Almost identical to Sky Sports on Sky (with Racing, Mix and News being part of this membership instead of Entertainment).
Then there’s NOW Boost, which currently costs £6/month – and adds Full HD (1080p) video quality, Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, no adverts (for on-demand content. You’ll still see adverts on Sky’s live channels), and the ability to stream on up to 3 devices at the same time (instead of just one).
Specifically for sports, NOW Boost also adds the ability to watch content in 50 frames per second – which gives a smoother picture on sporting events.
It’s worth noting that NOW doesn’t support 4K/UHD content at all (even with Boost) – therefore you won’t be getting any of the Ultra HD sports content or the new F1 channel.
From now until October 19, you can get 12 months of the Sports membership for just £21/month.
You’ll also be getting a bonus – one free month of NOW Boost – which will then revert back to its usual £6/month.
Since the Sports membership is on a rolling, monthly contract – you can cancel anytime, and don’t have to keep it for the whole 12 months. If you cancel, however, and then resubscribe – you won’t get the discounted price (unless there’s another offer when you resubscribe, of course).
Also remember that once the 12 months are up – the membership will auto-renew at the regular £34.99/m price, so don’t forget to cancel before that happens.
My friend Andy Webb from Be Clever With Your Cash also noticed that SOME previous NOW customers are getting a special offer, by e-mail, for 12 months of the Sports membership at just £19.99/month.
Alas, that offer is only available to those who receive the promotional e-mail from NOW.
Sky Sports Offer On Sky Stream / Glass
Sky is also offering a discount on Sky Sports for new or existing customers of its other streaming devices – Sky Glass and Sky Stream.
Sky Stream (see my review), which launched a few months ago, is a standalone Sky TV box that anyone can buy without complicated installations.
Unlike Sky’s traditional services in the UK, Sky Stream doesn’t use a satellite dish – instead, it relies on broadband, and streams all the content to the box (and from there to your TV), much like other streaming devices like the Amazon Fire TV sticks and Roku – and streaming services like NOW (see our Sky Stream VS NOW comparison).
Sky Glass (see my review) is a 4K TV set with a QLED HDR display and a built-in Dolby Atmos soundbar with six speakers. It’s also based on broadband, and uses the same OS as Stream – but, in Glass’ case, you have to buy the TV itself along with Sky’s service and channels.
Both Stream and Glass are available without long-term contracts – but if you do take the 18-month contract (for the content), you’ll pay less overall.
On top of the basic Sky Ultimate package (which includes TV channels like Sky Atlantic, along with several 3rd party channels, Freeview channels via broadband and Netflix’s basic tier), you can also add additional content packs like Sky Cinema, Sky Sports and more.
Normally, the Sky Sports add-on on Sky Stream and Sky Glass costs £25/month on the 18-month contract, and £27/month on the rolling 31-days contract.
At the moment, you can get it for a reduced price of £20/month – but only if you sign up for the 18-month contract option.
BT Sport (which will soon become TNT Sports) is also discounted on Stream and Glass at the moment, and customers can get it for £28/month instead of £30/month, on a rolling 31 days contract.
But you can get BT Sport for just £10/month if you go directly through BT – though that also means signing up for their broadband.
New Sky Sports Ultra HD Channel – F1
This week, Sky announced a new 4K / Ultra HD channel, which will launch on March 3: Sky Sports F1 Ultra HD.
Until now, Ultra HD Formula 1 content was only available via the Red Button function.
The new standalone 4K channel, however, will air 24/7, showing every GP race, qualifying and practice in Ultra HD and HDR.
Sky Sports F1 Ultra HD will be available on Sky Glass, Sky Stream and Sky Q – as long as you’re also subscribed to the appropriate Ultra HD add-on.
On Sky Stream and Sky Glass, the Ultra HD add-on costs £6/month on a rolling 31-days contract.
On NOW, as mentioned, there’s no support for 4K at all.