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With a huge selection of entertainment, movie and sports channels to choose from, it's easy to see why Sky TV is so popular. But the prices for a full Sky subscription can be eye-watering.
While the lure of shows such as Westworld and Game of Thrones can be appealing, the thought of being tied in to an expensive contract can feel off-putting. The good news is you don't have to take out a long Sky subscription to watch Sky channels.
Read on for more information on TV services that will let you watch Sky TV without a Sky subscription, including Now TV, Virgin Media and TalkTalk.
Use our round up of the best and worst TV and broadband providers to discover how satisfied Sky customers are in comparison to those with other suppliers.
Try Now TV
Now TV is an internet TV streaming service powered by Sky. It offers live streaming and on-demand content from popular Sky channels - so, you can watch Sky shows as they're going out live, or catch up on them at a later date.
Crucially, you don't have to be a Sky subscriber to use Now TV. Instead you simply buy 'passes' for a day, week or month to access the channels that you want. When your pass expires it rolls over into a monthly subscription fee, but you can cancel at any time. See how Now TV compares to popular streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, using our TV streaming service reviews.
Streaming services broadcast over the internet, so you don't need a satellite dish to watch Now TV (though you do need a broadband connection of at least 2.5Mbps or a mobile signal of 180Kbps if you plan to watch using 3G or 4G).
You'll also need a device that can use the Now TV app. Some smart TVs come with this preinstalled, but if yours doesn't, you can watch Now TV in a few different ways.
One of the easiest, cheapest ways to watch Now TV is to buy a dedicated Sky Now TV box or smart stick, which cost as little as £15. This may even include a trial of free passes to watch the content, which in effect pays for the cost of the Now TV box itself.
A YouTube box will also give you access to the Now TV app - or you can install the app on a tablet, smartphone or PC.
Find out more in our guide: What is Now TV?
Sky Sports Now
Add Sky channels to a service from another provider
If you've already got a TV subscription with a different provider, such as Virgin Media or BT TV, you can add most of Sky's channels to these services.
To do this, you add a 'bolt on' to your existing pay TV service. For example, you can pay BT £16 a month to add 11 Sky Movie channels to your package. There's usually no contract to do this, you just pay on a monthly basis.
If you're looking for some channels to keep the little ones happy, you can simply add children's channels to yourTV and broadband bundle - for example TalkTalk's Kids Boost adds nine children's channels, including Nickelodeon, Boomerang and Cartoon Network.
Use a shared Sky subscription
If a friend or family member already subscribes to Sky, then you can register as a secondary user and still watch Sky shows.
Now TV (see above), for example, allows you to register up to four compatible devices (such as a Now TV box, a laptop, or a tablet). The service lets you watch programmes on two devices at the same time, so four members of an extended family won't all be able to tune into Game of Thrones simultaneously on different devices.
Alternatively, Sky Go is a streaming service that allows Sky subscribers to watch programmes away from the home. This lets Sky customers register two devices (or four, if you pay more for Sky Go Extra).
In effect, this would let you log in to watch Sky programming if you used the account details of a family member who has a Sky subscription. However, users are meant to be part of the same household as the primary Sky account holder, according to Sky.
Read our Sky TV and broadband review to find out what Sky customers had to say about the service they receive in our latest satisfaction survey.
...or, stick with Freeview
If you decide that none of the above options work for you, then one alternative is to stick with Freeview. It may not offer the same sports or movie range as Sky, but it still gives you a huge selection of channels for no cost at all (other than the charge for a TV licence).
With the addition of a Freeview PVR, you can pause, rewind and record live TV, as well as setting a planner and series-link. These are all features you would get with a Sky box. You won't, however, have access to the same sports, movies and entertainment channels. Head to our round-up of the Best Buy Freeview PVRs to see which models impressed the experts in our lab.
If that's not enough for you, and you want even more channels, then Freesat offers more than 200 channels and on-demand TV from the likes of the BBC and ITV. To get it, you just need a Freesat box or a TV with Freesat built-in, plus a Freesat satellite dish. As with Freeview, there's no ongoing subscription cost. Read in depth reviews of all the latest models using our Freesat PVRs and set top box reviews.
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Is Now Tv Owned By Sky
You can add a bunch of on-demand stuff to your telly for just a tenner - and we think you should
It's an interesting time for people who want a little more from their television.
The Google Chromecast has just come out in the US for $35. It's a little HDMI dongle that your phone or tablet can tell to play YouTube clips and other things. But even $35 rather pales into insignificance with Sky's NOW TV box: a nifty little box delivered to your door for just £10, without anything more to pay. (And no, no need to be a Sky subscriber either).
Inside the box is a remote control, some batteries, a decent-quality HDMI cable, a power supply, some friendly instructions, and the little NOW TV box itself. It's smaller than a few CD cases stacked on top of one another, and bright white. Build quality is excellent - of this and the remote.
After a few tedious minutes connecting it to my wifi using an on-screen keyboard, it had downloaded its software, rebooted, and then insisted I sign in with a NOW TV account. A Sky ID isn't enough; because NOW TV want your credit card details, of course, if you want to buy anything. You can either spend £10 on a day's worth of live Sky Sports; or you can get a free month's trial for Sky Movies on-demand (but remember to cancel it).
You're then given the box itself. Pre-installed are:
- NOW TV, offering you films and live sport
- The BBC iPlayer, which looks identical to the version you'll find on most connected TVs
- The ITV Player and Channel 5's on-demand player, which like any respectable person I've not used
- 'BBC iPlayer News', something I suspect ought to be branded 'BBC News', and is an on-demand service with news clips
- Sky News, an app that's rather more impressive than the BBC News app, including on-demand information and a live stream. What the point of a live stream is I'm unsure, given you've got this on a television, and Sky News is available on all platforms.
The BBC iPlayer app is as you'd expect - tons of good quality content, and looking as good as you'd want it to. Frankly, if you've not got iPlayer on your television yet, this is £10 well spent.
But, also installable are a set of other 'channels', or apps: and here's where this box's price tag looks even more like a gift - because there's a LOT of additional stuff to get.
Radio fans will enjoy TuneIn, which has an app on this box. It's not beautiful, but we got Australia's TripleJ up and running without much fuss. Spotify also appears in the app list (I'm not a paid-for subscriber); no Rdio, sadly, but who knows what the future might bring.
News junkies will like a few different news apps, including one from Fox News, which offers a large choice of on-demand content. There's also stuff from CNBC and the Wall Street Journal.
TED talks are there, too; watching one of the talks was smooth, in HD, and worked well. We had no rebuffering issues, and the app was snappy.
There's no Netflix or YouTube on here. As you'd probably expect, if Sky is footing the bill.
Watching Sky Sports on a day pass, the picture quality was near-HD, and it didn't buffer once. I quickly forgot I was watching over an internet connection.
So - a decent little box, with a ton of extra apps, at a price that's little more than that of the included HDMI cable? Why haven't you bought one?
- You can buy a NOW TV box from Amazon.co.uk.
- This article was edited in July 2014, for enhanced readability, to add the availability of the ITV Player, and to remove outdated information