The cheapest way to watch Sky Sports without a subscription?

Do you want to watch Sky Sports but not be tied into a long subscription? Let’s take a look at how you can view your favourite sports without paying a small fortune.

Sky Sports Pass with NOW

To watch Sky Sports without a subscription to NOW, you have two options:

• Day Pass. At a cost of £11.99 for the day, this is ideal for anybody who 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. This also comes with a 6-month Sky Mobile Month Membership (more on that below).
• Month Pass. This costs £34.99 per month, although you can sometimes find it on offer for £26. It’s a six-month contract and after the six months finishes, it changes to a rolling contract which can be cancelled at any time.

Taking out any of these passes will give you access to all twelve Sky Sports channels:

• Sky Sports Main Event
• Sky Sports Premier League
• Sky Sports Football
• Sky Sports Cricket
• Sky Sports Golf
• Sky Sports Racing
• Sky Sports F1
• Sky Sports Action
• Sky Sports Arena
• Sky Sports News
• Sky Sports Mix
• Sky Sports Tennis

NOW £11.99

Discounted NOW gift cards are no longer available

When I first wrote this post in 2017, NOW (well NOW TV as it was then called) offered lots of ways to buy discounted gift cards, saving you more on your Sky subscriptions. Sadly, these are no longer available.

Or… look elsewhere

Don’t fancy Sky? Where else should you look to get your fix of sports?

TNT Sports

I wouldn’t describe TNT Sports (formerly 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 TNT 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.

FAQs