Services
NOW TV Review: Memberships, Prices and Is Boost Worth It?
NOW TV — officially just NOW since 2021 — is Sky’s contract-free sibling: the same Premier League, the same Sky Atlantic dramas, sold a month at a time to anyone with a broadband connection. It is the single most flexible television product in Britain, and also the one with the biggest gap between the advertised price and the price you will actually end up paying.
The short answer
- No contract on any Membership — cancel in under two minutes.
- Without Boost you get 720p with adverts. Boost is close to essential.
- Sports is the cheapest legal route to live Premier League football.
- Cancelling out of season cuts the annual cost by roughly a quarter.
NOW — it dropped the "TV" from its name back in 2021, though almost nobody in Britain has stopped saying it — is Sky’s answer to the question of what to sell people who will not sign a two-year contract. It carries a large slice of Sky’s content, requires no dish and no engineer, runs on essentially any device you already own, and can be cancelled the same afternoon you start it.
That flexibility is the whole proposition, and it is genuinely valuable. But NOW is also the UK service where the headline price is furthest from the real one, because the default experience is deliberately compromised in ways the pricing page does not emphasise. This review covers both halves honestly.
We have kept a NOW account running continuously for eighteen months across a Fire TV Stick 4K Max, an LG smart TV and an iPad, on a 67 Mbps London line.
What is NOW TV?
NOW TV is Sky’s contract-free streaming service, renamed simply NOW in 2021. It carries Sky Atlantic, Sky Cinema and Sky Sports content as rolling monthly Memberships with no minimum term, streamed over ordinary broadband to any device — no dish, no box and no installation.
Why the name still matters
NOW is owned by Sky, and its content comes from the same rights deals. The difference is packaging: where Sky sells channels on a contract, NOW sells Memberships — themed bundles you add and drop independently, billed monthly with no minimum term. That puts it in the same bracket as Netflix and Disney+ rather than as a television package, and it is priced alongside them in our guide to every UK streaming price. If you are wondering whether to buy NOW hardware for it, the NOW Smart Stick reviewed answers that separately.
At a glance
- Owner
- Sky (Comcast)
- Contract
- None — rolling monthly on every Membership
- Hardware
- None required; NOW Smart Stick optional
- Max quality
- 1080p with Boost, 720p without
- HDR
- Not supported on any tier
- Simultaneous streams
- 2, or 3 with Boost
- Adverts
- Yes on Entertainment and Cinema, removed by Boost
- Availability
- UK and Ireland
There is no aerial, no dish and no installation. You sign up on the website, sign in on a device, and it works. That genuinely is the entire setup process, which is a meaningful advantage over every other paid option in Britain.
How much do the NOW TV membership tiers cost?
NOW sells four Memberships separately: Entertainment at around £9.99 a month, Cinema at £11.99, Sports at £34.99 and Hayu at £5.99. Boost, the quality add-on, costs a further £6. None carry a contract, so you can hold one, all four, or none in any given month.
- Entertainment — Sky Atlantic, Sky Max and the drama and comedy catalogue. The tier most NOW TV membership holders start on.
- Cinema — Sky Cinema’s film library, refreshed with a new premiere most days.
- Sports — the full Sky Sports line-up, and by some distance the dearest tier.
- Hayu — reality output, sold separately and rarely worth it on its own.
- Boost — not content at all: the add-on that unlocks HD, 5.1 audio and a third stream.
What each membership is actually for
Four Memberships, bought independently. You can hold one, all four, or none in any given month. That flexibility is the whole argument for NOW over a contract, and it is easiest to see against what the equivalent Sky packages cost. Whether any of it can be tried first is covered in the NOW TV free trial position.
| Membership | Monthly | What it carries |
|---|---|---|
| Entertainment | ~£9.99 | Sky Atlantic, Sky Max, Sky Comedy, Sky Crime, Sky Documentaries, plus a large box-set library. Kids content is bundled in. |
| Cinema | ~£11.99 | Sky Cinema channels and roughly 1,000 films on demand, with a new premiere most days. |
| Sports | ~£34.99 | Every Sky Sports channel — Premier League, EFL, F1, cricket, golf, tennis, darts. |
| Hayu | ~£5.99 | Reality television. A niche add-on, but the cheapest thing on the list. |
| Boost | ~£6.00 | Not content. Lifts quality to 1080p, adds 5.1 audio, a third stream, downloads, and removes adverts. |
Day and week passes for Sports
Sports is also sold as a 24-hour pass (around £14.99) and occasionally a week pass. For a single fixture the day pass is excellent value; for anything beyond three days in a month the full Membership is cheaper. It is worth doing the arithmetic before a big weekend rather than reflexively buying the month.
For a fuller comparison against everything else available in Britain, see our round-up of legal UK IPTV services.
Is NOW Boost worth it?
For most people, yes. The base Membership is 720p with stereo sound and adverts, which looks soft on a large set; around £6 a month more gets 1080p, 5.1 audio, a third screen and no adverts. On any television above about 40 inches, treat it as part of the price.
This is the part of NOW that generates the most complaints, and it deserves a direct explanation because the marketing does not give you one. Without it a NOW TV subscription is capped below HD, which is why almost nobody ends up on the base price they were quoted. It is also why the NOW TV price quoted on the site is almost never the one people end up paying, and why how much is NOW TV a month has no single answer.
Without Boost, NOW streams at 720p with stereo audio and adverts on the Entertainment and Cinema tiers. On a phone that is fine. On a 55-inch 4K television it is visibly soft — noticeably worse than iPlayer, which is free.
| Without Boost | With Boost | |
|---|---|---|
| Resolution | 720p | 1080p |
| Audio | Stereo | 5.1 surround |
| Adverts | Yes, on Entertainment and Cinema | Removed |
| Simultaneous streams | 2 | 3 |
| Downloads | No | Yes, on mobile and tablet |
| Extra cost | — | ~£6 per month |
The one case where skipping Boost is reasonable is Sports on a smaller screen. Live football at 720p is watchable, and the adverts on Sky Sports are the broadcaster’s own rather than NOW’s insertions. If you mostly watch on a laptop or tablet, save the six pounds.
There is no 4K on NOW at all, on any tier, with or without Boost. If you want genuine ultra-high-definition from Sky content, Sky without a dish is the only route.
What is NOW TV like to use day to day?
Competent rather than polished. The app behaves like any streaming service, continue-watching syncs reliably across devices, and device coverage is among the widest in Britain. The two weak points are finding live sport in the guide, and stability during the very biggest football fixtures.
The interface
Functional rather than pleasant. The app is organised around content rails in the Netflix idiom, with the live channels tucked into a guide that feels like an afterthought. Search is adequate. Continue-watching works reliably across devices, which matters more day to day than the aesthetics.
The weakest part is finding live sport. Working out which Sky Sports channel a fixture is on takes more taps than it should, and the guide does not surface upcoming events prominently. Sky Stream is dramatically better at this, and the gap is the clearest reminder that NOW is the cheaper product.
Reliability
Good, with one predictable exception. Ordinary viewing is stable and adaptive bitrate behaves sensibly on a variable line. But NOW has a long history of struggling under peak simultaneous load — a Manchester derby or a title decider will produce reports of buffering and failed logins that do not occur on a Tuesday evening. It has improved substantially, but it is still the platform we would least want to rely on for a once-a-season fixture.
Devices
Coverage is excellent — this is one of NOW’s real strengths. Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, Android TV, PlayStation, Xbox, LG, Samsung, Sony and Hisense smart TVs, plus browsers, iOS and Android. There is also the NOW Smart Stick, an own-brand HDMI stick, though we would generally point people at a Fire TV Stick instead for the wider app ecosystem.
12
Mbps recommended
Per boosted 1080p stream.
3.5
GB per hour
At 1080p with Boost.
2–3
Streams at once
Three requires Boost.
0
Months minimum
Cancel whenever you like.
Are NOW TV offers and deals worth waiting for?
Rarely. NOW discounts Sports around the start of a season and Entertainment over Christmas, but the saving is usually smaller than simply cancelling in the months you do not watch. Timing your Memberships around the fixture list beats waiting for a promotion almost every time.
When the offers actually land
This is the most useful thing on the page, and it is the reason NOW tops our ranking despite Sky Stream being the better product.
Because there is no contract, you can genuinely stop paying. Most people who take Sports want it for the football season — roughly August to late May. Cancelling for June and July, and again during any month with nothing you care about, removes those payments entirely.
| Approach | Months paid | Approximate annual cost |
|---|---|---|
| Sports + Boost, all year | 12 | ~£492 |
| Sports + Boost, season only | 9 | ~£369 |
| Sports + Boost, big months only | 6 | ~£246 |
| Day passes, 20 fixtures | n/a | ~£300 |
Two practical notes. First, cancelling does not end the current month — you keep access until the billing date, so there is no reason to cancel early. Second, returning customers are frequently offered a discounted rate, so the cancel-and-return cycle sometimes costs less than staying.
Cancelling is deliberately simple, but it is buried a couple of levels into account settings. We have a step-by-step walkthrough in our guide to cancelling a NOW Membership.
Do you need NOW Broadband to watch NOW TV?
No. NOW streams identically over broadband from BT, Virgin Media, Sky, Vodafone or anyone else, so signing up to NOW Broadband changes nothing about picture quality or reliability. The only case for it is price — a bundle discount with a Membership, when one happens to be running.
Worth mentioning because a great many people search for it separately. NOW also sells home broadband — Sky-owned, running on the Openreach network, sold on short contracts in keeping with the brand.
It is a perfectly reasonable mid-market broadband product, and bundling it with a Membership occasionally attracts a discount. But there is no technical advantage: NOW television works exactly the same on any provider’s line. Do not choose your broadband on the assumption that it will improve the streaming, because it will not.
What does matter is line stability rather than headline speed, for the reasons set out in our explainer on how IPTV works.
How does NOW TV compare with Sky Stream and Netflix?
Sky Stream is the better product — full channel line-up, real 4K, far better interface — but demands 24 months. Netflix is cheaper and carries none of the Sky content or live sport, and NOW against Netflix in full works through that choice. NOW sits between them: a subset of Sky at lower quality, with nothing to sign.
NOW versus Sky Stream
Largely the same content, delivered very differently. Sky Stream gives you the full channel line-up, genuine 4K, Dolby Atmos and much the best interface in British television — in exchange for a 24-month commitment. NOW gives you a subset at lower quality with no commitment at all.
| NOW | Sky Stream | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum term | None | Typically 24 months |
| Max quality | 1080p with Boost | 4K HDR |
| Audio | 5.1 with Boost | Dolby Atmos |
| Channels | Themed Memberships | Full Sky line-up |
| Hardware | None needed | Sky puck supplied |
| Entry price | ~£9.99 | ~£15 |
| With sport | ~£41 incl. Boost | ~£46 |
| Cancel | Two minutes, online | Subject to the term |
The prices converge more than people expect once Boost is included, which makes the decision almost entirely about commitment rather than money. If you will keep it all year for two years, Sky Stream is the better buy. If you will not, NOW is.
NOW versus the free services
A fair question that too few people ask before subscribing. the free Freely platform and Freeview Play both carry BBC One and Two, ITV1, Channel 4, Channel 5 and their on-demand catalogues at no cost. If your actual viewing is soaps, news, documentaries and terrestrial drama, NOW adds very little.
What NOW adds is specifically Sky content: Sky Atlantic drama, Sky Cinema films and live Sky Sports. If none of those three is the reason you are considering it, the free platforms will serve you better and cost nothing.
NOW versus a broadband-bundled service
EE TV and Virgin Stream both bundle television with broadband, which usually beats NOW on headline price. The trade is that your television is now tied to your internet provider, so switching broadband means losing the TV, and neither can be paused for the summer. NOW keeps the two decisions separate.
Why does NOW TV keep buffering?
Almost always peak load rather than your broadband. NOW is a unicast service, so capacity scales directly with audience size, and big football fixtures are when it wobbles. Wiring the device by Ethernet instead of Wi-Fi removes the only part of the problem within your control.
The other faults that come up most
| Problem | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Picture looks soft on a big TV | No Boost — you are watching 720p | Add Boost, or accept it. There is no other lever. |
| "Too many devices" error | Stream limit reached | Two streams standard, three with Boost. Sign out of unused devices in account settings. |
| Buffering only during big matches | Peak simultaneous load | Nothing you can do server-side. Wire the device rather than using Wi-Fi to remove your own bottleneck. |
| Cannot find which channel a match is on | Weak live-sport navigation | Use the Sky Sports schedule on the web, then jump straight to that channel. |
| Charged after intending to cancel | Cancellation not completed, or done after the renewal date | Cancel on the day you sign up — access continues to the end of the paid period regardless. |
| App crashes or will not load | Cache bloat on the device | Clear the app cache. On a Fire TV Stick, see our walkthrough. |
The one genuinely unfixable item is peak-load wobble. It has improved a great deal, but if you have a single fixture a year that absolutely must not fail, NOW is not the platform we would choose for it.
What NOW’s channels cost on a fixed term
NOW sells its memberships monthly, and Boost — which unlocks Full HD and a third screen — is charged on top of every one of them. The plans below fold picture quality and the channel list into a single fixed-term payment. Both tiers are shown because NOW is bought for Sky Sports and Sky Cinema alike.
IPTV 4K Ultra
From £2.86/moCinema-quality HDR & Dolby
True 4K Ultra HD streaming with HDR10+, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. Watch the Premier League in 4K like you are at the ground.
Starter 4K
3 Months
£34.99−31%
£23.99
£8.00/mo
- 27,000+ channels in 4K
- 192,000+ VOD titles in native 4K
- 4K UHD (3840×2160) HEVC
- Full EPG guide
- 1 screen
- 24/7 UK support
- Anti-freeze technology
Secure payment
Standard 4K
6 Months
£54.99−27%
£39.99
£6.67/mo
- 27,000+ channels in 4K
- 192,000+ VOD titles in 4K HDR
- 4K UHD + HDR10+
- EPG + 3-day replay
- 1 screen
- Priority support 24/7
- Anti-freeze servers
Secure payment
Premium 4K
12 Months
2 months free£74.99−27%
£54.99
£3.93/mo
- 27,000+ channels in 4K UHD
- 192,000+ VOD titles in 4K HDR
- 4K UHD + HDR10+ + Dolby Vision
- EPG + 7-day replay
- 1 screen
- VIP WhatsApp support
- Dolby Atmos 5.1 audio
- Free automatic updates
Secure payment
Ultimate 4K
24 Months
4 months free£89.99−11%
£79.99
£2.86/mo
- 27,000+ channels in 4K UHD
- 192,000+ VOD titles in 4K Ultra HD
- 4K + HDR10+ + Dolby Vision
- EPG + 14-day replay
- 1 screen
- VIP WhatsApp instant support
- Dolby Atmos 7.1 surround
- Early access to 4K content
- Optimised HEVC streaming
Secure payment
IPTV 8K Ultra Max
From £3.93/mo8K HDR + Dolby Atmos — the pinnacle
The most advanced plan on the list. True 8K Ultra HD with Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos sound, 55,000+ live channels, 220,000+ on-demand films and series, and multi-language subtitles on everything.
Starter 8K
3 Months
£39.99−25%
£29.99
£10.00/mo
- 55,000+ live channels in up to 8K
- 220,000+ films & series on demand
- 8K UHD + Dolby Vision HDR
- Dolby Atmos immersive audio
- Multi-language subtitles
- Full EPG guide
- 1 screen
- 24/7 UK support
Secure payment
Standard 8K
6 Months
£69.99−29%
£49.99
£8.33/mo
- 55,000+ live channels in up to 8K
- 220,000+ films & series on demand
- 8K UHD + Dolby Vision HDR
- Dolby Atmos immersive audio
- Multi-language subtitles
- EPG + 3-day replay
- 1 screen
- Priority UK support 24/7
Secure payment
Premium 8K
12 Months
2 months free£99.99−30%
£69.99
£5.00/mo
- 55,000+ live channels in up to 8K
- 220,000+ films & series in 8K / 4K
- 8K UHD + Dolby Vision HDR
- Dolby Atmos object-based audio
- Multi-language subtitles throughout
- EPG + 7-day replay
- 1 screen
- VIP WhatsApp support 24/7
- Free automatic updates
Secure payment
Ultimate 8K
24 Months
4 months free£124.99−12%
£109.99
£3.93/mo
- 55,000+ live channels in up to 8K
- 220,000+ films & series in 8K / 4K
- 8K UHD + Dolby Vision HDR
- Dolby Atmos 7.1+ surround sound
- Multi-language subtitles throughout
- EPG + 14-day replay
- 1 screen
- VIP WhatsApp instant support
- Early access to new 8K content
- Optimised 8K HEVC / AV1 streaming
Secure payment
The arithmetic that catches people out on NOW is the Sports membership running twelve months a year for a competition that runs nine. A fixed term removes the question entirely. Every plan is on the pricing page, and if you are leaving NOW, our cancellation guide covers each membership type.
Is NOW TV worth it? Our verdict
Our verdict
NOW
The most flexible television product in Britain, and the only sensible route to Sky Sports for anyone whose viewing is seasonal. The quality compromise without Boost is real and under-communicated, and there is no 4K at all — but factor Boost into the price from the start and this remains excellent value for the freedom it buys.
What works
- Genuinely no contract on any Membership.
- Cheapest legal route to live Premier League football.
- Runs on virtually every device already in a British home.
- Cancel and return cycling frequently attracts a discount.
- Day passes make single fixtures cheap.
What doesn’t
- 720p with adverts unless you pay for Boost.
- No 4K or HDR on any tier.
- Live sport is harder to navigate to than it should be.
- Historically wobbly under peak simultaneous load.
Best for: Anyone who wants Sky content without committing to Sky. If you want the fullest line-up and real 4K instead, read our Sky Stream review.
Frequently asked questions
How much is NOW TV a month in 2026?
It depends which memberships you take and whether you add Boost. Entertainment and Cinema are the cheap ones; Sports is several times either. The honest NOW TV price is whatever your combination costs with Boost included, because without it the picture is capped below HD.
Are NOW TV deals and offers worth waiting for?
Often, yes. NOW TV offers cluster around new seasons of flagship shows and the start of the football season, and existing customers are frequently offered a discount at the point of cancelling. Nothing here is worth paying full price for in a hurry.
How much is NOW a month?
Entertainment is around £9.99, Cinema around £11.99, Sports around £34.99 and Hayu around £5.99, each billed monthly with no contract. Boost adds roughly £6 on top and lifts quality to 1080p with 5.1 audio while removing adverts. Realistically, budget the Membership price plus Boost.
Is NOW the same as NOW TV?
Yes. The service dropped "TV" from its name in 2021 and is now simply NOW, but it is the same Sky-owned platform. The NOW TV name persists in everyday use and in older hardware such as the NOW TV Box.
Is NOW Boost worth it?
For television viewing, yes. Without Boost you get 720p, stereo audio and adverts on Entertainment and Cinema, which looks noticeably soft on a modern set. Boost lifts it to 1080p with 5.1 and removes the adverts for about £6. The one exception is Sports on a small screen, where 720p is acceptable.
Does NOW have a contract?
No. Every Membership is rolling monthly and can be cancelled at any time, with access continuing until the end of the period you have already paid for. This is the main reason to choose NOW over Sky Stream.
Does NOW support 4K?
No. NOW caps at 1080p with the Boost add-on and 720p without it, and there is no HDR on any tier. For 4K Sky content you need Sky Stream, Sky Glass or Sky Q.
Can I watch NOW on two TVs at once?
Yes — the standard allowance is two simultaneous streams, rising to three with Boost. The streams can be on any mix of devices.
What is the cheapest way to watch Premier League football on NOW?
Take a Sports Membership only during the months with fixtures you want and cancel for the rest, or buy 24-hour day passes for individual matches — every route to the Premier League costed compares them properly. Day passes are better value up to about three days a month; beyond that the full Membership is cheaper.
Is NOW better than Sky Stream?
Sky Stream is the better product — the full Sky line-up, genuine 4K HDR, Dolby Atmos and a considerably better interface. NOW is the better choice for most people anyway, because it carries much of the same content with no contract. Once Boost is included the monthly prices are closer than expected, so the decision is really about whether you will keep it for two years.
Why does NOW buffer during big football matches?
Peak simultaneous load. NOW is a unicast service, meaning every viewer gets their own stream, so capacity has to scale directly with audience size. It has improved considerably but remains the UK platform most likely to wobble during a title decider. Wiring your device rather than using Wi-Fi removes the part of the problem that is in your control.
Can I pause my NOW Membership instead of cancelling?
There is no formal pause function, but cancelling achieves the same thing. You keep access until the end of the period you have already paid for, nothing is lost, and you can re-subscribe whenever you like — often at a returning-customer rate lower than what you were paying.
Do I need NOW Broadband to use NOW?
No. NOW television works on any internet connection from any provider. NOW Broadband is a separate Sky-owned product with no technical advantage for streaming, though bundling occasionally attracts a discount.
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