If you’re still paying for premium pay-TV via satellite or cable you’re paying too much.
Switching away from Sky TV, Virgin Media or EE TV to streaming alternatives can save you £100s of pounds – and you can still keep the exact same channels.
You’ll also get the added flexibility of choosing what you want to pay for and when. And you can even keep recording most channels if you want.
In this article I’ve shared why you shouldn’t be worried about ditching Sky, and how to watch the alternatives (such as NOW TV) on your TV.
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How much Sky TV costs
Sky TV isn’t cheap. The Sky Ultimate package costs £22 a month for new customers and could go up to a massive £52 a month if you add in Sports and Cinema, coming in at £624 a year. This is on a 24-month contract, where prices will likely go up each April.
You might even be paying another £35 a month if you add on things like Kids channels, UHD viewing and multiroom. That’s potentially £87 a month and £1,044 a year.
But that’s for newbies… existing customers paying full price will see a huge increase. Ultimate, Cinema and Sports will add up to £89 a month (£1,068 a year), and with the extras it’s £124 a month (£1,488 a year).
The new Sky Essentials plan would save some money each month, though you’d only get Sky Atlantic, Netflix and Discovery+, losing all the other Sky-only channels.
It’s also important to note that Sky is pushing new customers and many older ones over to Sky Stream, which does not include a box for recordings.
I’ve also not included broadband costs here as you can easily shop around for deals elsewhere – there’s no need to get it direct from Sky or Virgin.
| Initial price per month | Full price per month | |
| Basic package | ||
| Sky Essential (inc Netflix w/ Ads) | £15* | £21 |
| Sky Ultimate (inc Netflix w/ Ads) | £22* | £35 |
| Add-ons | ||
| Sky Sports | £20* | £33 |
| Sky Cinema (incl Paramount+ w/ Ads) | £10* | £16 |
| Sky Kids | £8 | £8 |
| Sky UD Ultra | £6 | £6 |
| Sky Whole Home (1 device) | £15 | £15 |
| Skip ads | £6 | £6 |
Of course, being a savvy bunch you probably don’t pay full price. These companies are notoriously easy to haggle with and freebies are often thrown in – especially if you bundle your TV packages with your broadband and even your mobile phone.
So I think we can assume you’re paying something similar to what new customers get – though to do so would tie you in to more long contracts.
But even then that’s too much. It’s possible to get all the channels you want to watch, alongside other services, for far less by ditching the long pay TV contracts. I think you could be saving between at least £200 and £430 a year, ore if you’re paying Sky’s full price.
Cancelling Sky TV
Make sure you are out of contract. It could be that you have different dates for TV and other bundled packages such as broadband or phones. If so, make sure you know what the effect of cancelling your TV could have on the price of those services.
If you have any time left to run you’ll be charged an early exit fee, which will pretty much be all the money you owe until that contract is due to end.
If you’re not out of contract for a while, make a note in your diary a month before it’s due to end to start the cancellation process in motion.
When you’re ready to cancel, you can phone Sky or use a live chat function. To leave Sky TV you need to give 31 days notice, so you’ll still pay for a month (and receive the channels) in that time.
When the service ends you’ll need to return your Sky Q or Sky Stream equipment – so you won’t be able to keep using them for other services.
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How to watch free channels (including BBC, C4 & more)
The most watched TV channels are BBC, ITV and Channel 4. These are all available via Freeview. For free. And there are plenty more, including U&Dave, Dmax, Really, Food Network, HGTV, Quest and Yesterday.
Importantly you don’t need Sky to watch these. Most can get these by connecting their TV to an external aerial. If you don’t have one you can try indoor aerials which might work. Or, something called Freesat will connect to your satellite dish. You may need a separate box to connect.
And you can of course catch them live or on catch up via streaming apps on your TV such as BBC iPlayer, Channel4+, ITVx, Freeview Play and so on.
For a more traditional programme guide (EPG) experience when live viewing these channels, check out the live tab on devices like Amazon’s Fire TV (you’ll still actually watch in each broadcasters’ own app).
If you’re happy to focus mainly on these channels then you’re saving a grand a year, if not more.
How to record without Sky or Virgin
The downside with moving away from traditional Sky or Virgin (though not Sky Glass or Sky Stream) is you lose your recording box.
If that’s essential to your viewing, you can buy a Freeview or Freesat box to record Freeview channels. This can cost between £165 (like the Manhattan T4-R) and £250. Sounds like a lot, but if that was to last you for four years (which it really should, if not longer), that £165 costs you £41 a year. Even when you factor that in, you’re still saving money versus Sky or Virgin.
Though I’d challenge you whether you actually need this feature. If you already watch most things on catch-up you can probably do without a box.
Even if you really hate adverts on the likes of Channel 4 or ITV, you can pay £3.99 and £5.99 a month respectively for their ad-free streaming services. Do this as and when there’s something you want to watch (rather than every month), it’ll be cheaper than buying a new box.
How to watch major Sky channels elsewhere
There are actually only a handful of channels not available to watch via Freeview. These are mainly the Sky channels (eg Max, Atlantic, Comedy, Witness etc) and a few others such as U&Gold, Discovery and Nat Geo. But even these can be watched without Sky or Virgin and at a far lower price.
NOW (formally NOW TV) is the main player here. It’s actually owned by Sky and allows you to watch most of the above channels and more via your broadband connection. There are also options for Sky Cinema, Sports and Hayu (reality). I’ve written in more detail about NOW TV in my review here.
The main differences to Sky’s packages are Entertainment includes Kids, while Cinema does not have Paramount+. You also have one add-on bundle with NOW to cover advert skipping, better quality picture and sound and multi-room.
The great thing is you’ll be paying on a monthly basis rather than on a long contract so you can ditch it at anytime, though some offers do require a minimum term. You can also bring the prices down even more if you cancel each month. Doing this usually results in a lower price offered.
| Full price per month | Typical new customer offer | Typical cancellation offer | |
| Entertainment | £9.99 | £6.99* | £2.99-£4.99 |
| Sports | £34.99 | £26** | £20-£25 |
| Cinema | £9.99 | £2.99-£4.99 | |
| Hayu | £4.99 | ||
| Add on | |||
| Boost (HD, no ads and 2 x streams) | £6 | ||
| Boost Ultra (4k, no ads and 4 x streams) | £9 | £6 |
Sky vs NOW: price difference
If you’re looking at Sky Stream vs NOW, price wise, it’s most fair to compare exact like for like.
If you got Entertainment, Sports, Cinema and Boost a full price from NOW it’d add up to £59.97. Along with Netflix with Adverts, Paramount+ with Adverts and Discovery+, you’d pay another £14.96. That’s a total of £74.94 a month, or £899.28.
Full price for these via Sky – so Ultimate (with Netflix and Discovery+), Sports, Cinema (with Paramount+), Kids, Multi-room, Ad skipping and Ultra HD – would total £1,488 a year. So that’s £489 more expensive.
A reduced Sky price, based on new customers, for the same package, adds up to £1,044 a year, a still significant £145 extra.
However, remember you don’t need and probably don’t want all the extras all the time.
Cut down to just NOW Entertainment and Boost (so you can skip ads and stream on more than one device) and Netflix with Ads you’re paying £21.97 a month versus £34 as a new Sky customer or £47 as an existing one. And that doesn’t include being able to watch it it more than one room or Kids channels.
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How to watch other channels from Sky
The other major mainstream channels you might want to keep that aren’t on Freeview or NOW TV are probably Discovery and TLC. Both are available from Discovery+ (£3.99 a month) or as an Amazon channel (you’ll also need Prime).
TNT Sport is also available as a monthly pass at £30.99 a month. That might be more than what you pay for the channels elsewhere, but combining it with the other savings should bring the overall cost down.
Indian channels such as are also available to stream, with Zee TV costing £4.99 a month and Hotstar (including UtSav) at £5.99.
How to watch other streaming services
Lots of Sky customers think they’re getting free Netflix with Sky. You aren’t. Though the recent Netflix price increase will mean you’re getting a slight discount right now, it’s not much. And since you’re on an 18-month contract you don’t have the choice whether you keep it or not. It’s far better to pay separately.
You can add other streaming services to your Sky or Virgin accounts, but these can all be paid for externally. THis is often better as you aren’t tied into the contracts and are often for less money.
The key exception is Sky Cinema customers via Sky get Paramount+ with Adverts for free. Since there’s not a huge amount on there I’d say you’d be better off paying for it every now and again direct with Paramount when there’s something you really want to watch, rather than sticking with Sky Cinema.
When Sky or Virgin might be better value
There are a few exceptions though when paying for TV via Sky or Virgin could work out either better value or just a better user experience.
If you watch a lot of sport
Though occasional viewers can get a day pass for Sky Sports on NOW TV, the month pass comes in at £34.99. There are often deals that bring the price down to around £25 for a month, sometimes £20.
But if you know you are going to want and watch the main sports channels every week AND you want to just Sky Atlantic and Netflix with Adverts via the Sky Essentials package, you might be better off with Sky or Virgin.
The cost for Sky Essentials (£15 a month as a new customer) and Sports (£20 as a new customer) would add up to £35 a month.
However, don’t forget you are tied into an 18-month contract.
If you don’t have great broadband
On-demand streaming does require decent broadband, so you will probably want to look at upgrading to fibre if you don’t already have it. If that’s not possible – especially in rural areas – then you might need to stick with Sky (not Sky Stream) or Virgin Media for your TV.
Just been offered 500 speed from BT broadband and buyout of remaining sky contract to boot! When I checked sky cost (husband’s account) we’ve been paying an obscene £121/month!?!?!? Whaaaaaa? I’ve just gone ballistic! Needless to say that I’m now furiously researching ways and means of ditching this millstone asap! I already had prime/netflix anyway. Apple Disney paramount too all available I bet without the need to feed sky’s habit? I’d rather get Freesat/stick/kick up the backside than keep giving our precious pension to these vampires….I bless the day I came across your site my dear! And for the young student who called on us today to suggest we change to bt and it’s happened to mention that sky SHOULD have already either reduced our bill as we can’t get full fibre to our house yet despite it being within 30metres!!! Crazy!
Good morning I’m a BT customer, I have the basic essential package. With BT broadband that bundle costs £49.99 a month. Just to add the sports packages would cost an extra £40 prior. To increasing in April.
It is certainly a rip off extras.,my son in Ireland gets much better deal.
Thanks Andy, a great post and your advice has helped me to decide to end Sky tv and I will get a Freesat box and supplement this with a Roku streaming stick for Apple TV+.
Best wishes, Colin.
What happens if I get sky glass and cancel within 28days, my sky Q will have already been cancelled,so have I now effectively got rid of sky without paying off my remaining 19 month sky Q contract ?.
My Sky TV is coming to an end late July. I pay £100 for Sky TV, Sky Cinema, HD, Sky Sports, BT Sports. The Sports channels are full of ads and only two live Premier matches on a Saturday. Simply not worth the £50 for Sports. I pay £12 for Sky Cinema, that’s double the price of Netflix, with ads. I have ads for all the TV channels, with exception of the BBC, which I pay for anyway. I have purchased a Freeview recordable box and will use Freeview only. I’ll be saving £100 per month.
I have just cancelled Sky after 22 years – mainly because the shows I watch just aren’t there any more. I will be using Prime, etc. plus Blu-rays but not regular TV, (BBC, ITV & co.), my wife watches EastEnders and that’s about it. To be brutally honest, if I only had terrestrial channels I wouldn’t need a decent TV. I liked Sky because of the HD & UHD content which is important to me but with multi-room it was costing me £70/m without sport or cinema and I just can’t justify it. I have to say that using the online chat was quite painless and definitely the way to do it. The agent, (Daniel), did try to offer me a better deal but only for a few minutes. I was firm and he processed the cancellation straight away so I felt I ought to post a positive review as there is a lot of criticism about Sky. Fairs fair!
Andy, We use Virgin for Broadband, landline and t.v. as we have no phone line to the property. We can get Freeview through our dvd player/recorder. We’re paying £51.25 a month. I’m 82 and just use the broadband for info and never download films. Any suggestions for saving money without losing services? Always enjoy your blogs.
I get the internet via dongle 5gb a month.How can I get cheap TV deal?
We’re getting rid of Sky, price hikes up every year fo r 40mins of programme per hour,the other 20 mins are ads!!. No ashes, no champions league, the sports get worse every year but price goes up.
They are greedy.
Great advice, thanks.
very useful report, i hd been researching and looking at dumping sky tv. i have multi boxes , hd , broadband, booster average bills around £100 .it occurred to me that if u have a smart tv and things such as disney, netflix and prime not really much else is needed. the only down side is that i have 2 mobiles with them and you do save a lot there. it looks like i might have to keep broadband jsut so i can get the mobile deal. the mobile deal is you only pay for data packs for myself and son only works out to be £23 per month all in. so i think i will need to keep broadband with sky. i am intersted to know whether with Now you would still need disney etc
Depending on the data use you need with your phone you could easily get two Sim only deals for £14 each with 8gb data.
We watch sport. For me its a couple of matches a month and England test matches.
We watch the major channels on (we think) Freeview but none of the others.
Netflix and catchup does it for us….
Need great internet, work from home.
Phone is minimal use except relatives in France (but we get them to call us as its free)
What do I do to cut cost…help !
Currently paying Virgin package including internet and phone….Last bill was £150….UGH! plus Netflix 10 per month
For clarification we dont have Freeview connected up we just think its got what we want without the dross of the other channels
Wow, £150!! Are you out of contract with Virgin? If so you’re free to shop around and look for a better deal for internet and TV. You might struggle to not have a landline for less money but it is possible. You could also haggle with Virgin and say what will the charge be for the minimum you want.
I actually dumped my landline a couple of years ago. Just use mobiles, and you don’t need to be tied to any of the major providers or pay landline rental charges. I use Virgin for Broadband, it’s expensive but fast and reliable.
I also dumped my SkyQ today in exchange for a one of charge for a Freesat 4k Recordable box. I was paying Sky £750 a year to basically watch free to air channels and Skynews in HD. It took me over an hour and a half to cancel, they made it as painful as possible.
It’s awful how they just won’t let you cancel straight away. I tend to use via chat rather than the phone for those conversations now so I can get on with other things at the same time!
I have had the same problem today I have cancelled sky Q and will be doing the same as you have with freesat fed up with the stupid costs for watching mostly free to air channels
£150!+ £10 Netflix?!!!!! Oh wow! That’s a hell of a lot of money!
I am with Virgin too. But my bill doesn’t look like that!
So Broadband, we all need it, On the base package for us, but been with Virgin now for about 20 yrs. So, every time your contract runs out with them, call them up and ask for a better price, or you’ll go to another company. BT is one of their worst nightmares.
The speed goes up when we ask about a better price, and the price goes down. We also have the phone with them, on a pay-as-you-go tariff, we don’t use it, very, very rarely. I have a good price on my mobile phone and that’s at £6 a month with extra free time on it, certainly not worth using the landline phone! I also pay for Netflix, going up price will be about £6.99 as we are paying less on a special rate, seeing I’ve been with them for the past 10 yrs. We only use it on one device at one time.
Price originally was £55 and I complained to the other half about it, he got it dropped to £35 with the phone, with a faster base package, it’s running at nearly 155 Mbps down with an upload of about 20 Mbps
Even £35 is a bit steep for speeds with broadband. But a lot of videos require at least a speed of 40 Mbps and therefore you have to get a faster package and turn off other devices that use the Broadband, e.g. mobile phones, computers if you’re trying to stream with broadband and you have a lower speed, or you’ll suffer from buffering.
Don’t need the TV we have Netflix and its a lot cheaper than taking out their TV programs.
Sky TV base package, you can add the sports EUro channel to it, without any of the other programs. Unless they’ve changed the rules again? It’s certainly cheaper than £150 per month!
Hi Andy,
Came across your site while hunting for better deals.
Just got a 15.33% increase in my Sky account… deducted via my debit order without my consent or knowledge!!
Advice from you would be much appreciated…
My wife and I are pensioners on Universal Credit and we have to penny pinch.
We do not watch much… Come Dine With Me… Pointless… Strictly… news and so on… sometimes we record movies but not often… so we are not heavy consumers.
Virgin broadband I kicked into touch with their automatic increases.
Went to Shell but the secret is to change your debit order to a standing order… works quite well…
Contract just finished and they sent me my increase request of about 50p.
It is still costing me £27/m.
Oh well… hope you have a great day…
John
Hi John, I’d certainly suggest dropping Sky TV then – as long as you are out of contract. If you’re not worried about recording programmes either you should be able to get by with the normal TV aerial and catch up on services like iPlayer. If your TV doesn’t have apps for things like that you can buy a smart streaming stick for between £20 and £30 which plugs into the HDMI socket in the back of your TV and connects wirelessly to your internet. Hope that helps!
As you’ve already got a dish on your house, you could buy yourself a top set for the Sat Dish, I have got one running via the dish outside on the wall, and I get all the usual channels, the ones that are free, the ones from Sky TV, the interesting ones like the history channel and how it works, etc, and tons of kids programs. All the channel 4 and Channel 5 spin-offs etc, the box starts about £199.00 from Argos
They are called FREESAT boxes:
https://www.argos.co.uk/product2075868?clickSR=slp:term:tv%20dish%20box:1:18:1
As you’re on benefits, maybe you can get your family, friends, and children to add to a pot for a Christmas or birthday present from them all?
You can buy them via eBay too, where I got mine from 2ndhand and has lasted about 5 yrs, whereas now, dust-related issues are causing it to have moments. But it’s nothing serious that can’t be fixed. I hope that helps? Pay once and never again!
Why is sky so expensive with rubbish service and now tv is cheaper no contract bu owned buy sky.I want to get out of my contract with sky ASAP ,but told they take the discount of and have to pay full price and contract if you can get in touch it a nightmare
Yeah, they tie you in for the full contract. So the most important thing now is to make a note of when that contract ends so you can leave penalty free
A very good article and much of what you have written I implemented myself a few years back when I gave Sky it’s marching orders from my home. I would like to mention that you can also sign up for the History Channel app through Amazon Prime for £3.99 per month that I believe provides a great deal of what you can find on their cable channel. Found TV Player a frustrating experience, personally.
Ah that’s great to know! Thanks Jeremy
What about foreign channels?
I have stuck with Sky for the foreign channels. I barely watch TV nowadays but my parents do.
Unfortunately Where I live standard broadband is about 2Mb which leaves me with only Virgin to turn to and after speaking with them today about my renewal I can stick with all three services (TV, Phone, Internet) for less than I can get Internet & Phone for and only £2 a month more than Broadband only. So trapped for the time being. No access to the new customer deals either.
However I am interested in how you get the NowTV entertainment passes so cheap. I don’t ever pay full price, but I have not got them anywhere near that low.
Ah, that’s such a shame. It’s ridiculous how they charge more for less services! I’ve actually got broadband only from Virgin and managed to haggle a lower price by threatening to leave. They called me back and offered a good broadband only deal.
Yes, I’m always on the look out for free or cheap passes, and I’ve a deals page where I share the best ones. Currently I’m paying £1.20ish a month for three months, which was a offer given when I clicked to cancel my pass. Before that I had a couple of free passes from different promotions, and next up I’ve got three months to add from a Stick/pass bundle I got for £7.50, and sold the stick for £7! The most I generally pay is £3.50. This is just Entertainment mind.
I have tried the leave and get a better deal tactic – but the agent said that due to the fact they knew how much internet I used (I am an above average user apparently in terms of data per month) and the fact that they also knew the best local connection was 2MB, that I couldn’t realistically leave them so they would not be offering a deal in my case.
Thanks for the info on the passes
Did you speak to Retentions Jon?
You can talk your chin off talking to all the other agents and no one can do you a better deal, but if you go to Retentions they want to keep you in the program with their company, so they will offer you a better deal.
How do I know? I used to work for Sky, and Virgin and I know all the tricks they get up to!
They did the same to us because my children use it for gaming!?
Just haggled a new deal with sky. We now get phone line (no calls but use our mobiles not with sky), superfast broadband, sky q box, minibox so we can have multi room, entertainment, plus SPORTS AND MOVIES for £67 per month for 18 months
It’s ok if you use it a lot, but otherwise for the likes of a lot of us who are cutting back due to the price of fuel and Utility bills, it’s still a bit steep.
I thought companies were out of their league offering 18-month contracts these days? I heard it was illegal.
I inherited Virgin – no BT landline – no where to put dish outside – am in garden flat – lots of high buildings around. Am I stuck with Virgin?
If that’s the only way to get broadband then possibly you are stuck for internet. But even then you can still get Freeview channels over the internet for free via TV Player, and sign up for NOW TV / Netflix etc for other channels.
For broadband you probably are – but you don’t need to get the tv from them. For freeview channels you can use a service called TV Player which has a few option. And of course there’s iPlayer, All 4 and so on
You’re not stuck with Virgin.
You can have a BT phone line put to the server box in the hallway of your garden flat. It will be then from there they wire it to your flat, and the box that appears in your flat at the doorway will be your phone socket.
Regarding the TV with Sky, there is a scheme they were running that you can still get sky TV but it wouldn’t be over a dish, it would be via Broadband. Unless you were in a ground floor flat, then a dish may be possible.
If you’re just looking for a phone connection to be fitted by BT to have that option in your property? Then yes, its doable. I have no idea how much it costs, but it can be done via Sky when you take out a new subscription with them. If you take it out with a company, they will get BT to fix it in and not charge you for it, if you get it done independently it could cost you £££’s to get it fitted.
When changing companies, you have to also consider what they are like to fix issues when they occur. Virgin is super fast. BT are pants! Because of the process of how it has to be fixed.
If you just want to get a TV set up, then it’s either a FREESAT box with a Dish, Or a NOW box with broadband usage, from Virgin. Prices:https://www.virginmedia.com/broadband/broadband-only
Depending on what you start from, but phone and Broadband are from £25 per month, cheaper than Broadband alone.
Also cheaper than NOW TV. And you can still watch TV via your computer.
I get prime for £39.50 a year because I subscribed to the shared household with my sister, she can watch it at her home address and receive next day delivery etc. It’s worth it doing it this way. I prefer to pay £39.50 a year instead of £79 that’s for sure.
Hi, How did you do this?, can’t they still see your payment methods, as I don’t want my daughter spending on my card but splitting the bill and still getting the benefits would be great.
Thanks
Elaine
The best thing we ever did was to get rid of Virgin Media 18 months ago. The last straw was when, after over a decade as a customer of their TV, broadband and phone services (retained through inertia) they made another price hike and we wanted to cut back on our package. They were really unhelpful and even tried to insist we move from the rolling contract to a new 18-month one. We ditched the lot and got Freesat – the money we immediately stopped paying to Virgin quickly covered the cost of the dish and a Freesat box. We took out a new broadband/landline deal with Plusnet (now switched to TalkTalk), buying via a cashback site for a lot of extra money off. The only ongoing TV cost we now have is Netflix, shared with a relative. My sister-in-law has also just ditched Sky after ten years and is delighted. She has realised that the channels she liked to watch, are free-to-air ones anyway!
How do you get Prime for £39 a year? Mine is £7.99 a month!
This is thanks to a trick where non-students can get an NUS/Totum card by taking out an eligible online learning course. Sadly this loophole has closed, but if you did manage to get one before it did you can still renew your membership. I’m now on year 5 or 6 of this discounted Prime membership.
If you know you want Prime every month then it’s worth paying the £79 a year to save nearly £17.
I agree, how do you pay more, for what is£7.99 a month. Unless of course, its the first deal and its possible they have had an agreement with Amazon with a voucher or taken out a subscription for something else with someone else, like an insurance company for example?
Yes we belong to sky ad yes we paying far to much
You say your total bill for tv per month is under a tenner. What are you getting for that?
As I say I take advantage of lots of offers, and have the odd month off, so that £10 is an average. But in general: Now TV entertainment (I usually pay less than £3 thanks to special offers, currently £1.20 a month and often free), Prime (I pay £39 a year, so £3.25 a month), and then Netflix (£8.99 a month but shared with my sister so only pay half). Occasionally say six times a year) I’ll get a Sports day pass which I generally get on offer and split the cost of with my dad.
Netflix is stopping that sharing the password, so sharing the subscription will stop too.