How to watch Sky Sports without a subscription: The cheapest ways

Looking for the best ways to watch Sky Sports without a subscription? Then take a look below at how to get a better deal with Sky or find cheap passes that don’t tie you into a contract.

Quick summary for watching sports without a subscription:

• Purchase a NOW TV Pass – great for just one day or one month.
• Shop around for your Pass. Other stores sell them, such as GAME and Currys. You could earn cashback
• Use Cashback sites to get extra money off.
• Negotiate with Sky to get a better deal. Your subscription could become much more affordable.
• Consider other providers. There are plenty of other channels that don’t tie you into a contract.

The best way to find a cheap and easy way to watch Sky Sports is through NOW TV.

What is NOW TV?

NOW TV is actually owned and operated by Sky, but operates slightly differently. You can access the service by either downloading an app to your smart TV or a smart ttick, or by purchasing a NOW TV set-top box. It can also be streamed to your computer, tablet or phone.

Instead of having a long contract for 12+ months, you can take a daily, weekly or monthly pass depending on what your needs are. If you’re an occasional TV watcher, this can turn out to be a much cheaper option.

You can purchase:

• Entertainment Pass. With over 300 boxsets to watch on demand.
• Sky Cinema Pass. Access to 1000’s of on demand movies and live Sky Cinema channels.
• Sky Sports Pass. Watch 11 Sky Sports channels.
• Kids Pass. 1000’s of ad-free episodes to watch.
• hayu Pass. Over 5000 episodes of reality TV.

If you don’t have access to NOW TV, you could purchase a stick like the one below, which also comes with a month’s Sky Sports Pass.

Is there a free Sky Sports trial available?

Some of the observant amongst you (or at least previous users) will know that NOW TV does offer a free 7-day trial for their Cinema and Entertainment passes. Unfortunately, that doesn’t extend to sport.

Sky Sports Pass with NOW TV

Of course, Cinema and Entertainment are great, but we’re more interested in the sport option. To watch Sky Sports without a subscription to NOW TV, you have two options:

• Day Pass. At a cost of £11.99 for the day, this is ideal for anybody that has a particular event in mind to watch or just fancies a day of binge-watching sport. You can watch sports on two screens at once.
• Month Pass. This costs £33.99 per month, although you can sometimes find it on offer for £25. It’s a rolling contract that carries on until you cancel – which you’re free to do at any time. And you can stream on up to three devices at once. This is far better for anyone interested in multiple events over the month, but it can work out to be more than subscribing to the sports channels directly through Sky.

Taking out any of these passes will give you access to the following:

1. Sky Sports
2. Sky F1
3. Sky Sports News
4. Sky Racing
5. Sky Sports Cricket
6. Sky Sports Golf
7. Sky Sports Football
8. Sky Sports NFL
9. Sky Sports Arena
10. Sky Sports Mix
11. Sky Sports Main Event

An even better deal

My motto is ‘always shop around’. Not highly original, but there it is. If you search hard enough, it is possible to find some extra discounts.

Cashback sites

At various points throughout the year, you may be able to buy a Sports Month Pass through one of the major cashback sites and get some money back – usually between £3 and £4.

However, these offers come and go and can’t be relied upon. Plus, they’re only available to new customers.

CDKeys

CDKeys is better known for selling codes for game consoles, but they also have a NOW TV Passes, usually available at a discounted rate. The site is very easy to use and you can collect loyalty points which you can put towards future discounts.

Currys

You can sometimes find daily and monthly passes at Currys. Although the price is usually the same as buying directly from NOW TV, Currys is listed on cashback sites. You may also belong to a scheme that will give you discounted Currys gift cards, such as the Blue Light Card or the CSSC.

GAME

Again, you can find Sky Sports passes at regular prices. And again, GAME is listed on cashback sites for extra money off. However, GAME also has a loyalty scheme which will earn you extra points when you buy an item, which you can put towards future purchases for extra discounts.

A cheap Sky Sports Mobile Month Pass

If you’re constantly on the go or want to save even more money on Sky Sports, you could take out the Mobile Month Pass through NOW TV. This is much cheaper compared to a standard subscription, but you can only watch from your smartphone. The contract automatically renews each month, so you must remember to cancel if you are no longer interested.

The downside is that there are just five channels included in the Mobile Pass:

1. Sky Sports
2. Sky Sports Arena
3. Sky Sports Action
4. Sky Sports Racing
5. Sky Sports News

Obviously, the events that you’re interested in might not be shown on the channels above, so check the listings. However, you can gain access to all 11 sports channels if you’re willing to spend extra.

CDKeys

Again, you can find a discounted pass through CDKeys at just £4.99.

Negotiate a better deal

What if you’re happy with your Sky Sports subscription but find it a bit too expensive?

If you’re an existing customer, I’m sure you’re probably fed up when you see new customers being offered better deals. But the fact is, you too can get a discount on your subscription. With a bit of negotiation (and some stubbornness), it’s possible to get as much as 50% off. Just follow my guide for cancelling Sky to get a better deal.

Or… look elsewhere

Gone are the days when Sky Sports is the only channel to turn to if you were a serious sports fan. Only around 15 years ago, if you wanted to watch a major sporting event, you would need to be a Sky Sports subscriber.

But new players have entered the market, and now there are other options to consider. And strangely, although they have less sport in terms of important events, Sky Sports doesn’t seem to be any cheaper than it was all that time ago.

Where else should you look to get your fix of sports?

BT Sport

I wouldn’t describe BT Sport as cheap, but it can rival Sky for major events. As the only channel to show Champions League football and with a large number of Premier League games and cricket, it’s certainly a channel worth thinking about.

Fortunately, you don’t need to take out a long subscription either. A monthly subscription will cost you £25 which you can cancel at any time. It will give you access to all 5 BT Sports channels.

Amazon

Amazon Video already offers plenty of TV and movies for customers to watch, but they have also started to offer some sport. From 2018, tennis fans could watch the US Open, and Premier League fans were treated to a host of games last year. Why not take a look at all of the benefits of subscribing to Amazon Prime?

Viaplay

For £14.99 per month, Viaplay gives you access to PRO14 Rugby, Serie A, La Liga, Scottish Cup football, Eredivisie, Ice Hockey, Motorsports, GAA & MMA. You can watch online or through Sky and Virgin TV.

Eurosport

Eurosport gives you access to live stream events including Grand Slams tennis, cycling tours, winter sports, snooker, athletics, motor racing and much more. You can gain access by subscribing to discovery+.

Why not take a look at some cheaper alternatives to Sky in more depth?

Sky Sports through IPTV

Ok, so I’m going to touch on this, but not too much. Mainly because using IPTV is illegal… well, certain parts are. But I hear many people recommending it on various forums, so I thought I would explain it here so you don’t have to go further.

IPTV stands for Internet Protocol television, any media content streamed over IP protocols. Basically, any television content viewed over the internet could be classed as IPTV – such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer and Disney+.

However, when people discuss IPTV, they are usually referring to watching illegal subscription TV – something that hasn’t been paid for, or at least not at full price. You can download an app to your TV, console or set-top box and then pay a heavily reduced price for access to subscription channels. One of the most famous examples of this is a Kodi box, something I’m sure many of us have heard of. On its own, Kodi is perfectly fine. However, start loading it up with unauthorised subscriptions, it becomes illegal – as decided by the EU courts in 2018.

So, what’s the harm in that?

There are a few issues, and I don’t want to sound overly dramatic, but think they’re important to go over.

The subscription channels won’t be able to survive. Yes, I know they charge a lot and make a decent profit. However, if they stop receiving the money, they will no longer be able to make the programmes and pay the creators – whether that be sports stars or actors. Ultimately, this will lead to a loss of jobs.

Who is the money going to? The government reports that many people behind IPTV are involved in terrorism, human trafficking and slavery. Whether this is true or scaremongering, I cannot say, but still a point worth considering.

The quality. I have witnessed IPTV firsthand and was very underwhelmed with it. The stream that was provided constantly buffered and it ruined the whole experience. Even though it is much cheaper, is it actually worth watching when it constantly stutters?

What if you get ripped off? Let’s say you pay this complete stranger £100 for a year subscription through PayPal. What happens if he cancels it after one month? PayPal won’t refund you and you probably won’t have any contact details. And it’s not something you can go to the police with…

For a better, safer experience, you should stick with legitimate providers.

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