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. From 1 April 2026 Sky Ultimate package costs £24 a month for new customers and could go up to a massive £55 a month if you add in Sports and Cinema, coming in at £660 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 £90 a month and £1,080 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 £87 a month (£1,044 a year), and with the extras like HD and skipping ads it’s £122 a month (£1,464 a year).
The 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.
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, Disney+ w/ Ads, HBO Max w/ Ads & Hayu) | £24* | £37** |
| Add-ons | ||
| Sky Sports | £20* | £33 |
| Sky Cinema (incl Paramount+ w/ Ads) | £11* | £17 |
| Sky Kids | £8 | £8 |
| Sky UD Ultra | £6 | £6 |
| Sky Whole Home (1 device) | £15 | £15 |
| Skip ads | £6 | £6 |
Sky Ultimate now comes with included streaming services
The big change from March 2026 is the addition of HBO Max and Disney+ to the Sky Ultimate package, with Hayu arriving in July.
Here’s what these extras would cost if you bought them separately (which of course you can do at any time). Like with the included Netflix, the HBO and Disney subscriptions are the basic ones which include adverts and other restrictions. You can pay the price difference to upgrade any or all of these if you wish.
| Subscription | Included tier value | Standard cost | Premium cost |
| HBO Max | £4.99 | £9.99 (£5 to upgrade) | £14.99 (£10 to upgrade) |
| Disney+ | £5.99 | £9.99 (so £4 to upgrade) | £14.99 (£9 to upgrade) |
| Hayu | £5.99 | N/A | N/A |
| Netflix | £5.99 | £12.99 (so £7 to upgrade) | £18.99 (so £13 to upgrade) |
The three new services add up to £16.97 of value, so with Netflix Basic the total streaming part of the package is £22.96 a month. That means you’re paying only £1.04 for all the Sky channels at the introduction price, though it jumps up to £14.04 for those out of contract.
Is Sky worth the cost?
To accommodate the new streaming passes, prices have gone up by only £2 so at first sight, Sky could actually be really good value for money. But is it?
If you’ve just let your bill roll over to full price, and add on some or all of the extras, then it’s a huge amount to pay each month. And as I’ve shared below, it’s possible to get the same or similar for less.
But hopefully you’re not paying full price. £24 for all those channels and subscriptions as a new customer isn’t bad at all. And since Sky and Virgin 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, you will hopefully be paying something similar.
But the big question is, do you actually want or need all the channels and those four streaming services? And if you do, would you actually want them for the minimum 24 month contract you’re entering into for the lower price?
And what about other streamers, such as Prime Video and Apple TV, or the upgrades to get rid of ads on the included ones? You’ll need to pay extra for these on top, pushing your bill up.
If the answer is you’re happy to have less to watch at any one time, rotating through the streamers as and when, then you absolutely can pay less over the year by ditching the long pay TV contracts. I think you could be saving between at least £200 and £430 a year, more 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.
Featured deal
Customer rating
3.9/5
- Switch bonus£240
- Perks8% regular saver
- Monthly fee0
- Offer endsUnknown
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Bonus requirements To get the £240 switch offer, you need to complete a full switch with the Current Account Switching Service. Then, within 60 days of your initial switch request, you need to set up two active direct debits, deposit £1,500 into the current account, set up a Santander Regular Saver, and deposit £200 into it.
- Regular saver 8% (variable) regular savings account. Includes 5% (variable) bonus for 12 months
- Existing customers? You can't have held a Santander account on 1 January 2026.
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 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 One, 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 and HBO Max (TV only, not movies), but not Netflix, Disney or Hayu. Meanwhile Cinema does not have Paramount+ nor the two free Vue tickets you get direct from Sky. It does however have the HBO Max movies.
You also have a single add-on bundle with NOW to cover advert skipping, better quality picture and sound and multi-room, rather than separate additions with Sky.
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 new introductory offers now require a 12-month minimum term.
Personally I prefer to pay full price for the first month, and then bring the prices down even more by going through the cancellation process each month. Doing this usually results in a lower price offered, often without a minimum term.
| Full price per month | Typical new customer offer | Typical cancellation offer | |
| Entertainment (incl HBO Max) | £9.99 | £4.99* | £2.99-£4.99 |
| Sports | £34.99 | £26* | £18-£25 |
| Cinema | £9.99 | £2.99-£4.99 | |
| Hayu | £5.99 | ||
| Add on | |||
| Boost (HD, no ads and 2 x streams) | £6 | £2 | |
| Boost Ultra (4k, no ads and 4 x streams) | £9 | £6 |
Sky vs DIY package: price difference
If you’re looking at Sky Ultimate 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 separate subs for Netflix with Adverts, Disney+ with Adverts, Hayu, Paramount+ with Adverts and Discovery+, you’d pay another £24.94. That’s a total of £86.92 a month, or £1,043.
Full price for these via Sky – so Ultimate (with Netflix, Disney, Hayu, HBO Max and Discovery+), Sports, Cinema (with Paramount+), Kids, Multi-room, Ad skipping and Ultra HD – would total £1,464 a year. So that’s £421 more expensive.
A reduced Sky price, based on new customers, for the same package, adds up to £1,080 a year. So you may be able to haggle something similar.
However, there are three key differences. One, it’s possible to get lower NOW and prices, so the difference will be bigger. There are also plenty of deals throughout the year for the other streaming services, with the exception of Netflix.
Next, you don’t need and probably don’t want all the extras all the time. By paying for just one or two of these at any time, you’re looking at £20 a month at most (unless you add Sports). That’s £240 a year, if not less! A huge saving.
Finally Sky will lock you in to two years, and prices are likely to increase during that time which you’ll have to pay. Since most NOW and streaming prices are 31-day contacts, you can ditch them when you don’t want or can’t afford them.
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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 £7.99 a month and Hotstar (including UtSav) at £5.99.
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 tojust 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 a long 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.
