If you always wanted Sky TV but were put off by the high prices and having to install a satellite dish and Sky+ box in your home, then Sky’s Now TV service may be just the thing. In direct competition with the likes of Netflix and Amazon Instant Prime Video, Sky’s TV service provides top-quality content via your internet connection.
The content itself is broadly split into Sports, Movies and Entertainment, which largely mirror Sky’s usual satellite offerings of Sky Sports, Sky Movies and many of the usual entertainment channels you’d expect from a pay-TV package. How you pay for these is very different though, with all three available individually, rather than in complex bundle deals, and you can cancel and restart each service as you wish.
As always with a service like this, Sky Now is constantly evolving and the packages available keep changing. Most recently, Sky has changed how its Sports package works, so you can subscribe for a month's worth of content (more on this below). Although comparatively expensive compared to the other packages, it could work out well if there's a particular month that has a lot of sport that you want to watch, such as all of the football over Christmas.
How to Watch
Of course you’re going to need something to watch Now TV through. thankfully, the list of supported devices is pretty impressive and Sky has done a good job of expanding it as newer devices become available. It's not widespread on Smart TVs admittedly, with only LG sets having the service available as an app, but the range of other devices does largely make up for this.
For watching on your TV, you can hook up a PC or laptop to a HDMI input, and Macs are also supported too. Games console support has now caught up with the latest generation of devices with Now TV apps for both the Xbox One and PS4, as well as the older Xbox 360 and PS3. Youview boxes are supported, as is the new EE TV set top boxm Roku boxes, such as the Roku 3 and Roku Streaming Stick, and the Apple TV. It's also supported on the very cheap Google Chromecast, and away from your TV you can watch it on iOS and Android devices. Not all services are available on all devices, but a full list is available here.
Sky also has its own dedicated box, which has recently been updated. The new, faster version is still astounding cheap at just £15, plus you can buy a bundle with discounted Now TV content thrown in for £25, saving up to 31% on the usual prices. Occasionally, you might also see specific deals on Now TV boxes in supermarkets. We've seen boxes being sold for as little as £7 if you're lucky. Argos is currently selling the Now TV box with a two month movie pass for £10.99 if you can find it in stock.
The Now TV box also comes with free content and features - including iPlayer and the other main UK TV catchup services. In fact, for some, it’s worth buying even if you never use a single Now TV service. It’s a good and cheap way of upgrading an older TV with basic smart TV features (presuming it at least has an HDMI input).
So you might want Now TV without the box (because you already have compatible hardware), or you might want the box without Now TV. Because of this I’ve split the review in two sections, on this page I’ll deal with the Now TV service, how much it costs and what you get, which is largely independent of the device you’re watching it. On the next page I’ll look at the current Now TV box.
