WHAT NOW?
NOW hikes price of popular Sky TV channel by 25% – how to avoid it
Plus, watch our video to see if you can get a free TV licence
NOW is hiking the price of a popular TV channel by 25%.
Sky, which owns NOW, has upped the price of its Sky Sports pass.
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The streaming firm has increased the price of the Sky Sports day pass from £11.99 to £14.99 - representing a 25% hike.
NOW will not increase the price of its Sky Sports month pass, which currently costs £34.99.
The price hike came into force as of today (May 30).
A NOW spokesperson said: "We always try to keep prices as low as possible while continuing to offer the best member experience and flexible access to Sky Sports unrivalled sports coverage.
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"NOW is the only place you can stream Sky Sports just for the day and our members continue to enjoy all the action from the Premiere League, F1, Women's Super League, as well as new sports rights and channels such as our brand new Tennis Channel which will show the ATP and WTA Tours and later in the year expanded football action as Sky Sports becomes the exclusive home of the EFL."
NOW TV
NOW is a pay-per-view streaming service owned and operated by Sky.
The service first launched back in 2012 and offers household passes or rolling contracts for premium channels available on conventional Sky TV or Virgin Media.
However, unlike conventional fixed television contracts, NOW gives customers more choice and flexibility when it comes to picking and choosing what channels they want.
You can opt for the standard Entertainment pass and all or any combination of the Cinema, Sports, or Hayu memberships on a month-by-month basis.
As NOW operates under the Sky umbrella, its entertainment channels include Sky favourites like Sky Atlantic, Sky Showcase, and more.
While there's nothing you can do to avoid the price hike it's worth checking to see if you're paying more and getting back less to cut your costs.
If you watch Sky Sports channels for three or more days across one calendar month, it's worth buying a monthly pass.
In the long term, this works out cheaper than buying multiple passes.
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For example, a day pass to watch Sky Sports three times a month costs £44.97.
Whereas a month pass costs £34.99 - £9.98 more.
TV LICENCE NEED-TO-KNOWS
IF you want to watch or record live TV, you need a TV licence.
Live TV includes all programmes on any channel, including soaps, series, documentaries and even movies.
The rules apply even if you don't watch the shows on an actual TV - for example, if you watch programmes that are being broadcast live on a PC, laptop, tablet or phone.
A colour TV licence currently costs £169.50 a year. A licence for watching a black and white TV costs £57.
You can legally use on-demand TV services (apart from BBC iPlayer) as long as you aren't using them to stream live TV without a TV licence.
This includes streaming catch-up content on ITV Player, All 4, My5, BT Vision/BT TV, Virgin Media, Sky Go, Now TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku and Amazon Fire TV.
You also don't need a TV licence to watch video clips that aren't live through services such as YouTube.
OTHER NOW TV PASSES
NOW currently offers three Sky Entertainment passes:
- Six-month saver - £6.99 a month
- Six-month saver bundle - £13.99
- Fully flexible - £9.99
Customers can also get access to the following Sky Cinema passes:
- Six-month saver - £6.99 a month
- Six-month saver bundle - £13.99
- Fully flexible - £9.99
Customers can also get access to Hayu for £4.99 a month.
Your Sky TV remote has a secret button with a VERY handy use
WATCH TV FREE WITHOUT A TV LICENCE
Pluto TV
Pluto TV is another free streaming service with more than 100 channels.
Anyone can access Pluto TV for free on the web or on your iPhone and Android device.
Virgin Media has just made it available via some of its boxes - but bear in mind you'd need to pay a TV licence and take out a contract with Virgin to take advantage of this.
Amazon Freevee
Amazon Prime Video may be the first thing you think of but the retail giant also has a growing free alternative.
Freevee is home to exclusives like Judy Justice.
It's the new home of Neighbours too, which is set to return later this year.
But there's some classic on-demand content too.
The L Word, Nashville and Parks and Recreation are among the shows available.
All4
All4 is the main source of on-demand programmes from Channel 4, E4, Film4 and More 4.
The service is free to use and funded by advertisements.
All4 offers a free and extensive library of both classic shows and more recent programmes, including complete box sets of some of our most popular series like Gogglebox.
UKTV Play
If you're a fan of Dave, Drama, W and Yesterday then the UKTV Play is the place for you.
The latest featured shows include Meet The Richardsons, Annika and Great British Railway Journeys.
You'll have to sign up to start watching - and there are ads.
ITVX
ITVX launched in November, replacing the old ITV Hub.
ITV now drops many new and exclusive shows online before they're shown on ITV1.
There's also a load of other shows, including more niche interest like anime.
Free trials
You should take advantage of free trials to keep more of your hard-earned cash.
Some trials are as short as seven days, while others last an entire month.
For example, Amazon Prime Video offers newbies 30 days streaming for free.
Now TV also offers weekly free trails for Sky Cinema and Entertainment packages.
But any savvy savers must remember to unsubscribe to any subscriptions before the end of the trial period or risk incurring further charges.
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Customers can also nab a free trial of streaming services when buying new technology.
Some Apple technology purchases will include a free trial of Apple TV+.
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