THE cheapest way to get Sky Sports

We all love the epics that are shown on Sky Sports, but we’re not as in love with their price. After seeing one of my close family members dropping over £120 PER MONTH on their media package just so they had the Sky Sports channels, I figured there HAD to be a better way. Welcome to my extensive research on the cheapest way to get Sky Sports!

Clear as mud – how I’ve compared

I must admit, the media companies do a pretty good job of making this price comparison as difficult as they can, so I’m not surprised you’re feeling a little bamboozled with it all! As they tend to use Sky Sports as an add-on to reel you in, it tends to require you to sign up for lengthy contracts with other services, making it hard to compare.

As such, I’ve split it into three sections – hopefully one of them relates to your situation:

1. Cheapest way to get Sky Sports without a subscription (i.e without a contract locking you in)
2. Cheapest way to get Sky Sports along with a TV package
3. Cheapest way to get Sky Sports along with a TV and broadband package

Cheapest way to get Sky Sports without a subscription or contract

Play it on your smartphone

If you’re not fussed about what you’re playing Sky Sports on, then the absolute cheapest way to get Sky Sports without a subscription or contract is via the Now TV Sky Sports Mobile Month Pass which has you covered for just £5.99 a month. However, the sneaky hobbitses at Sky/Now TV have blocked the ability to cast or airplay to your TV.

This doesn’t quite give you the full suite of Sky Sports channels, but it gives you Sky Sports Premier League, Sky Sports Action, Sky Sports Arena, Sky Sports Racing and Sky Sports News.

You can also view via the Sky Sports Mobile TV app, which is also £5.99 a month. However, the app is not very well reviewed with a tonne of 1* reviews complaining about the user experience.

If the thought of watching a nail-biter of a game on a tiny smartphone screen fills you with dread and disappointment, then keep reading…

TV

If you want to enjoy the full glory of Sky Sports in all its splendour on your big screen, but without having to sign up for a broadband and TV package, then look no further than Now TV. This is the same company that provides the mobile pass above, but these passes will enable you to stream on your TV.

Now TV is a streaming service owned by Sky that allows you to buy “passes” that give you access to different types of content. They offer a sports pass which gives you access to Sky Sports.

At the moment, they offer these options as well as the monthly pass above:

1. Day Pass for £9.99 one off payment
2. Month Pass for £33.99 per month
3. Weekly pass for £14.99

The Month Pass has no contract, so you can cancel anytime. Whereas the daily pass is valid for 24 hours from when you’ve activated it. This is ideal if you want to just dip into some epic games for a period and is the best option for the casual sports fan.

Note that only the daily and monthly options are available for new customers. To get the weekly pass, you’ll need to sign up and login to your account settings to access the weekly pass option.

These Now TV options do give you access to the full 11 Sky Sports channels (unlike the monthly mobile pass which gives you access to 5), which are:

• Sky Sports Premier League
• Sky Sports Football
• Sky Sports F1
• Sky Sports Cricket
• Sky Sports Arena
• Sky Sports Racing
• Sky Sports Golf
• Sky Sports Mix
• Sky Sports NFL
• Sky Sports News
• Sky Sports Main Event

What devices can I use Now TV on?

You can watch via a browser, on your Android or iOS, most smart TVs as well as via a Now TV stick and many more. Now TV state that it is compatible with over 60 devices, so it is a fairly good bet that yours will be on it. Check out the full list here.

When does it make sense to buy a monthly Now TV pass vs a daily one?

If you are looking to buy a daily sports pass, then be aware that it makes more sense to buy a monthly pass if you are looking to watch an event on more than 3 separate days (which would require you to buy 3 separate day passes). Once you buy your 4th day pass in the same month, you would have saved money if you had bought the monthly pass.

Map out the month’s sporting action and in the big months where you’ll be watching on more than 3 days, buy a monthly pass.

Cheapest way to get Sky Sports along with a TV package

Really there are only 2 contenders here; Sky and Freeview.

Sky

You would expect Sky to be the cheapest provider of their own sports channel, and you guessed it, they are.

However, they use Sky Sports to reel you into one of their full TV packages, so we need to compare this with the other cheapest option; Freeview.

If you are already a Sky customer or are looking to get their TV package to access all of their other content, then adding Sky Sports onto your TV package will only cost you an additional £10 per month (£16 per month if you want the HD channels too).

This sounds great, but the catch is that the cheapest total package we could find (including Sky Sports but not HD channels), was the “Sky TV” basic package; £46 per month and a £20 one-off fee, with an 18 month contract. This takes the average total cost per month over the contract to £47.11.

If you’re after the full Sky suite of channels, then this is the most cost effective way to watch.

Freeview + Now TV

Freeview is a media platform that allows you to watch all of the free to view TV channels via a specialist box or built-in to your smart TV.

Most, if not all, of smart TVs sold nowadays have Freeview built-in, and the channel list is not trivial although it doesn’t have the likes of Sky One and other paid-for channels available via Sky.

If you already have a device that can use Freeview

Check if you already have a device that can be used with Freeview here. If you do then perfect. All you need to do is make sure you can also stream using Now TV and then get hold of one of their daily or monthly passes (daily is £9.99 and monthly is £33.99 per month).

This takes your monthly cost to £33.99 per month, saving you £13.12 a month and giving you the flexibility of not being tied into a contract for 18 months. Over the contract period, this will save you £236! If you combine this saving with other pain-free savings such as cheaper broadband, utility bills and phone contracts, you could be looking at making savings of over £1,000 a year which you could be funneling into savings and investments.

If you need to buy one

However, if you need to buy a set-top box or a new TV, then suddenly those savings don’t really materialise unless the set-top box or new TV costs less than £230 (£13.12 * 18 month contract = £230).

If you need to buy one, then I would recommend the Sky TV option above as the best route.

Cheapest way to get Sky Sports along with a TV and broadband package

This is where some of the other providers such as Virgin Media and BT try to get involved, but we’ve still found they’re not the cheapest unless you’re looking for more expansive services like super-fast fibre etc and this is where it gets complicated because it is so dependent on your needs (type and speed of broadband, whether you need a phone line or not and the other type of TV services you need).

I would recommend using the below price comparison websites and making sure you select the option for Sky Sports to ensure they are comparing all packages which include it:

• Cable
• MoneySupermarket

FAQs

Can I get Sky Sports on Freeview?
No, but you can get a Now TV pass to supplement your Freeview to be able to watch Sky Sports.

What is the cheapest way to get Sky Sports without a satellite dish (i.e without Sky)?
If you can’t, or are not willing to get, get a satellite dish on your house then it rules out the option of getting Sky. But don’t fear, you can still get Sky Sports using Now TV, which streams over your data connection.

What is the cheapest way to get Sky Sports without using data?
Similarly, if you can’t (or don’t want to) use your data allowance for streaming Sky Sports, then the cheapest option will be a Sky TV package, as detailed in the article above.

Can I get Sky Sports News on Freeview TV?
No, it is a paid-for channel so is only available along with the other channels. Either using Now TV or subscribing for a Sky contract is the cheapest way to watch.

What’s the cheapest way to get Sky Sports News?
As it is a paid-for channel, the cheapest way is the same as for Sky Sports generally; Now TV or a Sky subscription as detailed above.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for the absolute cheapest way to get Sky Sports without a subscription, get the Now TV mobile pass. However, if you want to be able to watch on your TV and not be restricted to your smartphone (not to mention accessing the full 11 Sky Sports channels), then the Now TV Sky Sports passes will be your best option.

If you are looking for the cheapest way to get Sky Sports, but are not worried about signing up for a contract, then the Sky TV + Sky Sports package is your best bet.

I hope this has helped to demystify the world of accessing Sky Sports, I would love to hear if you have found a cheaper alternative. Drop me an email via our Contact page or leave a comment below if you have!