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Contract-free Sky streaming + Openreach broadband

NOW (formerly NOW TV)

Sky’s contract-free streaming brand. Pick monthly passes for Entertainment, Cinema, Sports, Hayu or Kids, watch on a NOW Smart Stick or any modern device, and cancel any time. NOW Broadband is sold separately and uses the same Openreach Full Fibre network as Sky.

See NOW passes How to cancel

At a glance

Launched 2012 (as NOW TV) Owned by Sky (Comcast) Pay monthly, no contract on passes FTTP via Openreach for broadband

Launched

2012

Originally branded NOW TV

Parent company

Sky

Owned by Comcast since 2018

Cheapest pass

£3.99

NOW Kids, monthly rolling

Top FTTP speed

300 Mbps

NOW Full Fibre 300 (Openreach)

About

Who is NOW?

NOW (originally launched as NOW TV in 2012, rebranded to NOW in 2021) is the streaming service operated by Sky UK. It exists to sell Sky’s Premier League football, Sky Atlantic dramas, Sky Cinema films and Sky Sports channels to households that do not want to install a Sky Q satellite dish or commit to an 18 to 24-month Sky contract.

Sky has been owned by US cable giant Comcast since 2018. NOW is one of three Sky-owned broadband/TV brands in the UK: Sky (premium, full TV + broadband + mobile), NOW (contract-free streaming) and NOW Broadband (no-frills budget broadband on the Openreach network).

The hardware side is a NOW Smart Stick (around £15) or NOW Smart Box (around £40) that plugs into the back of any TV with an HDMI port. Both run a stripped-down Sky operating system and host third-party apps like Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV and BBC iPlayer alongside the NOW passes.

Current passes

NOW passes and add-ons available right now

Standard monthly prices verified on . NOW frequently runs introductory offers (e.g. £4.99 for three months on Entertainment) which roll on to the standard price. We link straight to nowtv.com for the live price the moment you click.

Sky Atlantic, Comedy, Witness

Drama and box-sets

NOW Entertainment Pass

Price

£9.99

Standard monthly

Contract

No contract

Cancel any time

£9.99 /month

Monthly rolling . £0 upfront

  • Sky Atlantic + Sky Witness + Sky Comedy
  • Box-sets and on-demand
  • Cancel any time

Best for

Anyone who wants Sky originals (HBO, Sky Atlantic dramas) without a Sky Q dish

See on NOW

Movies and films

NOW Cinema Pass

Price

£9.99

Standard monthly

Contract

No contract

Cancel any time

£9.99 /month

Monthly rolling . £0 upfront

  • 11 Sky Cinema channels
  • New film every day
  • Cancel any time

Best for

Film fans who want recent releases without buying or renting each one

See on NOW
All Sky Sports channels

Live sport

NOW Sports Pass

Price

£34.99

Standard monthly

Contract

Or £14.99 day pass

Cancel any time

£34.99 /month

6-month minimum then rolling . Day pass £14.99

  • Premier League, F1, Cricket, NFL
  • Sky Sports News + Main Event + Football
  • Day pass available

Best for

Sports viewers who want Sky Sports without a Sky Q contract

See on NOW

HD + multi-screen

NOW Boost add-on

Price

+£6

Bolt-on to any pass

Contract

Lifts to 1080p

Cancel any time

£6 /month

Monthly rolling . £0 upfront

  • 1080p video (vs 720p)
  • Dolby 5.1 surround sound
  • 3 simultaneous streams (vs 2)

Best for

A family streaming on a big TV who care about picture and sound quality

See on NOW

Selectra is independent. NOW does not pay us to feature any of these passes. We list its public prices so you can compare them like-for-like with other streaming and pay-TV providers.

NOW internet

Does NOW do broadband (internet)?

Yes. NOW Broadband is a separate budget internet service, also owned by Sky, running on the same Openreach network as Sky and BT. It is sold apart from the streaming passes, on a 12-month contract, from around £25/month. Crucially, you do not need NOW Broadband to use a NOW pass: passes stream over any provider's line. NOW Broadband is simply Sky's no-frills, lower-price internet brand.

NOW Broadband packages, speed, network type and price, UK June 2026
Package Average speed Network From Term
NOW Brilliant Broadband 36 Mbps Superfast FTTC £25/mo 12 months
NOW Fab Fibre 67 Mbps Superfast FTTC £27/mo 12 months
NOW Super Fibre 100 Mbps Full Fibre FTTP £30/mo 12 months
NOW Full Fibre 300 300 Mbps Full Fibre FTTP £36/mo 12 months

Indicative NOW Broadband pricing on the Openreach network, June 2026. Availability and price depend on your postcode. To compare NOW against every other UK ISP, see our cheapest broadband guide.

Explore

NOW, page by page

Five deep-dive guides to NOW’s passes, the Boost add-on, the Smart Stick remote, how to cancel cleanly and what real customers say in 2026.

NOW passes

Full breakdown of every NOW pass (Entertainment, Cinema, Sports, Hayu, Kids), bundle deals, hardware (Smart Stick and Smart Box) and which other apps run on a NOW device.

Open page

NOW Boost

What the £6/month Boost add-on actually unlocks: Full HD 1080p instead of 720p, Dolby 5.1 surround sound and three simultaneous streams instead of two. Who needs it and who does not.

Open page

NOW remote

How the NOW Smart Stick remote pairs (Bluetooth), what to do when it stops responding, factory-reset steps, replacement sources and the difference between the Smart Box and Smart Stick remotes.

Open page

Cancel NOW

Two different processes: cancelling a streaming pass takes one click in account settings with zero exit fee, cancelling NOW Broadband requires 30 days’ notice and an exit fee inside the minimum term.

Open page

NOW reviews

Trustpilot scores for NOW and NOW Broadband, Reviews.io and MoneySavingExpert forum sentiment, an honest Selectra audit of NOW’s online presence and a 2026 verdict.

Open page

Reviews snapshot

What customers actually say about NOW

Scores collected from each platform on . We show the flattering and the unflattering pages side by side, with a neutral read of what each one actually means.

Trustpilot, nowtv.com

1.4 / 5

~9,000 reviews

Mostly negative

NOW’s public Trustpilot page is heavily skewed by post-billing complaints. The most common recurring themes: surprise upgrades from intro to standard pricing, difficulty getting hold of a human agent and unexpected charges after a pass was cancelled in-app.

Trustpilot, now broadband

1.6 / 5

~3,500 reviews

Mostly negative

NOW Broadband is rated separately and scores even lower than the streaming side. Recurring complaints centre on installation delays, mid-contract price rises and slow fault resolution. Reviewers who got a clean install usually report the line itself works well.

Reviews.io, nowtv.com

3.2 / 5

~1,800 reviews

Mixed

A smaller pool with a more mixed sentiment. Customers praise the price-to-content ratio of Entertainment and Sport passes, the lack of a long contract on streaming and the breadth of the Sky catalogue. Negatives mirror Trustpilot: billing confusion and slow support.

MoneySavingExpert forum

Mixed forum sentiment

Dozens of active threads

Mixed

The forum view is split. NOW Sports is widely recommended as the cheapest legal route to Sky Sports without a Sky Q dish. NOW Broadband and the auto-renewal behaviour on passes are the most-flagged frustrations.

Read the full NOW review

Selectra expert verdict

Independent read, no commission shaping

NOW is the smart short-term pick if you want Sky content without Sky’s long contract. The Entertainment and Sports passes are the cheapest legal route to Sky Atlantic, Sky Sports News and the Premier League without a satellite dish or an 18-month tie. The Smart Stick is cheap (~£15), the apps run smoothly enough on a modern Wi-Fi connection and you can pause or cancel any pass from your phone in seconds.

The weaker side is live-TV mechanics and customer service. The standard streaming quality is 720p (not Full HD) and you cannot rewind a live channel unless you pay £6/month for the Boost add-on. Customer support is in-app only for streaming, with no public phone number, which Trustpilot reviewers consistently flag. NOW Broadband is a separate product on the Openreach network and is a perfectly serviceable budget ISP; just do not confuse the no-contract streaming side with the standard 12-month broadband contract. For pure value among the streaming heavyweights, NOW is harder to beat than Sky; for the deepest live-TV catalogue and a single integrated bill, Sky still wins.

Verdict last reviewed 24 June 2026.

FAQ

NOW passes, Boost and broadband, your questions answered

Is NOW the same as NOW TV?

Yes. NOW was rebranded from NOW TV in 2021. The hardware (Smart Stick, Smart Box), the website (nowtv.com) and the passes are all the same product. Sky kept the friendly “NOW TV” name in the URL because that is what most customers still search for.

Who owns NOW?

NOW is owned by Sky UK, which itself is owned by Comcast (since the 2018 acquisition). It is operated from Sky’s Isleworth headquarters in west London. NOW exists so Sky can sell its content to people who do not want a Sky Q satellite dish or a multi-year contract.

How much does NOW cost per month in 2026?

Standard June 2026 monthly prices: Entertainment Pass £9.99, Cinema Pass £9.99, Sports Pass £34.99 (or £14.99 for a 24-hour day pass), Hayu Pass £4.99 and Kids Pass £3.99. The Boost add-on is an extra £6/month and lifts you to Full HD with 5.1 sound, three streams and 4K on selected Sports content. NOW currently runs 6-month intro deals (Entertainment + Boost £3.99, Cinema £4.99, Sports £27.99) that roll on to standard pricing automatically, so set a reminder before month 7. See the full pass and deals breakdown.

Do NOW passes have a contract?

No, the streaming passes are monthly rolling. You can cancel any pass at any time from your account settings and it stops at the end of the current billing period with no exit fee. The one exception is when you take an introductory fixed-term offer (typically 6 or 12 months at a discount) which carries an early-exit charge if you leave before the term ends.

Is NOW Broadband the same company?

Yes and no. NOW Broadband is also owned by Sky and uses the same Openreach FTTP / FTTC network as Sky broadband, but it is a separate sign-up at nowtv.com/broadband with its own contract (typically 12 months). The brand position is “budget Sky”: same network, simpler packages, lower price, no premium router as standard. See our cancel page for how the broadband contract differs from streaming passes.

How do I contact NOW customer service?

NOW handles support online rather than by phone for streaming passes. Help runs through the in-app help centre at help.nowtv.com and a live-chat widget, where you can manage billing, passes and cancellations. NOW Broadband faults are handled through the same online help centre and your account dashboard. The lack of a streaming phone line is a recurring complaint on Trustpilot, so keep records of any chat transcripts.