What Are the Cheapest Ways to Get Sky Sports?

Sky Sports offers some of the best coverage of sporting events worldwide. From the FIFA World Cup to the rolling F1 calendar, all any sports fan wants is a great view of the action. If you’re like me, you’ve probably tuned in every weekend for the scores for a few years now!

However, the full packages on offer from Sky Sports tend to be a little on the expensive side – maybe not worth getting into if you just want to watch one or two events.

Thankfully, there are ways of getting access to all eleven Sky Sports channels in a way that should suit most budgets. Let’s take a look at the cheapest ways to get Sky Sports (legally) in the UK.

What channels are included in the Sky Sports package? 

If you subscribe to the entire Sky Sports package, you can access all eleven channels. These include: 

• 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 

The sports featured on the channels include football, Formula 1, cricket, rugby union, rugby league, golf, boxing, NFL, tennis, racing, darts, NBA, MMA… there’s a lot to take in. The whole Sky Sports set is well worth the money for many sports fans.

But what if you want to get into the sports action without getting overcharged? You might ask yourself, “Can I just buy Sky Sports – and not have to subscribe?

Can I just buy Sky Sports without a subscription? 

Yes, you can buy a subscription to Sky Sports without having to have a full general subscription to Sky and its other channels.

If you already have Sky, adding the extra Sky Sports subscription is as easy as calling customer services directly.

However, as long as you have an internet connection and a screen to watch sports on, you’re good to go! You can even use Sky Sports on your smartphone via the app. 

Alternatively, you can use NOW TV, Sky’s streaming service that rolls month to month. You don’t need a full Sky subscription or a formal Sky Sports setup to watch this way, and you can access the streamer through Fire TV, Chromecast, and other TV sticks.

Cheapest ways to get Sky Sports (legally!) 

As mentioned, NOW TV offers the easiest route to watching Sky Sports without having to fiddle around with a full subscription. However, did you know that it’s also the cheapest way to legally access Sky Sports’ content?

Let’s break this down a bit further – here are the cheapest ways to watch Sky Sports in the UK.

NOW TV Free Trials 

Using NOW TV is arguably the best way to get Sky Sports for free. The service offers free trials for seven days (providing you’re a new customer), meaning you can access all 11 Sky Sports channels for free during the seven-day period. 

If you time it right, you could activate your free trial during the last week of Wimbledon, the World Cup Finals, or the final few days of the Summer Olympics!

However, at the end of the trial, if you do not end your subscription, you will begin to be charged the normal monthly rate (which you’ll need to ‘agree to’ when you set up your trial – NOW TV takes a payment method so it can start charging after the trial).

Many people use the free trial method to access Sky Sports, which is why the terms have gotten a little more strict over the years!

NOW TV free trials are limited to one per membership and per person. This means you can only use the trial on a package or service you haven’t tried before.

That said, if you’re only interested in seeing one particular race, match, fight, or any other specific event, then subscribing to the free trial is a fantastic way of getting great coverage without having to worry about paying a fortune for a long-term subscription. 

NOW TV Day Passes 

If you’ve exhausted your free trial option, or are only interested in spending cash on one event, then consider taking out a NOW TV day pass for Sky Sports.

You must subscribe specifically to the NOW TV Sky Sports Day Pass to benefit. It costs a one-off fee of £11.98 (at the time of writing) and gives you access to all 11 Sky Sports channels over a 24-hour period.

The great thing about this option is that once it’s paid, you don’t have to worry about automatically jumping to a full-time subscription, as you would with a free trial. And, you can watch any sporting event on two devices simultaneously. 

That means you and your loved ones can enjoy the same event – or different ones – using just one account. You can also register up to six devices through which you can access the service. 

This is a great option for families or groups of friends looking to enjoy a particular event together without having to rely on one paid-for subscription. The cost for the day pass can easily be divided and gives you access to all of the Sky Sports channels at once. That means you can also watch the build-up, commentary, and after-talks about the event! 

It’s a great option for watching the finals of big sporting festivals – and NOW TV offers this service for such a purpose.

NOW TV Monthly Passes 

If you’re looking at events that may take more than one viewing (such as the whole F1 season, for example), then one day pass or even a free trial won’t do the trick. 

Your next best option would be to subscribe to a NOW TV monthly pass. You will need to subscribe to the NOW TV Sky Sports package in particular, which currently costs £25 per month. 

However, act fast – as this is a cut-rate deal NOW TV’s running for a limited time. The standard cost for the monthly membership is about £40 per month. 

The membership runs for around six months and comes with a one-month free boost! After this period, the boosts cost extra. To begin with, at least, it’s seven months for the price of six.

As is the case with the other subscriptions, you have access to all 11 Sky Sports channels. 

But, with this particular pass, you can have up to three devices streaming from the Sky Sports package at once. 

One of the best things about this package is that you can cancel it anytime. If six months seems too long, you can easily cancel it without worrying about paying a fee. Even one month in, you’re free to cancel it anytime. 

Buy Sky Sports from CDKeys

CDKeys is a great little site that serves up some great deals on NOW TV packages and Sky Sports passes that you might not find anywhere else.

The site offers digital versions of top-up cards, meaning you can access Sky Sports content almost instantly without having to fiddle around with bits of cardboard and awkward codes.

It’s fair to say that prices will always change through CDKeys, but as a representative deal, I found it possible to buy a NOW TV Sky Sports Mobile monthly pass for just £5. That’s a saving of 50%! 

There are Sky Sports Day Passes available through CDKeys for as little as £8.99, too, meaning it’s always worth taking a look to see if you can save any money here before buying direct with NOW.

Shop with Argos and Currys

Yes, believe it or not, you can also get great deals on Sky Sports if you buy passes via either Currys or Argos – both online and in-store. It’s not the first place I’d think of when it comes to nailing down the Sports channels, either!

Just watch out for sneaky shipping fees if you do find a cut-price offer on Sky Sports or NOW TV passes through either store. It might still be cheaper for you to look at CDKeys first, and then at least you don’t have to wait for physical delivery or have to go into a shop!

Save Money and Narrow Down Your Options

If you’re like me and you only want to watch the Sky Sports channels for very specific reasons (for me, that’s finding out when and where my favourite team is playing), it’s worth doing a bit of research first.

Even though the options I’ve explored here are all reasonably cheap and shouldn’t break the bank if you’re going to use these channels and packages a lot, it’s actually money wasted if you only want to use them for a few matches or races here and there.

So, take a look at Fanzo. This is a great little site I’ve used loads of times to narrow down football league and cup matches.

All you have to do is enter in your team, a competition (say, the FA Cup), or a venue where you’d like to watch sport in the search bar (see the image above). 

Fanzo then looks through all of the football action taking place on British TV and narrows down your options.

Here’s an example of what pops up for Arsenal after searching (sorry, Spurs fans):

YFor Sky Sports fans, it’s clear you can access upcoming Premier League matches, such as Arsenal playing away at Everton in this case, from the main package.

What I also really like aboou’re given upcoming fixtures, and you’re told which channels you can watch said games on. That means, in this example, if you want to watch Arsenal vs. PSV in the Champions League, you’d need to have access to TNT Sports 1, which you can access through BT Sport.

ut Fanzo is the fact you can even find venues such as pubs and clubs showing big matches. It’s honestly an asset during some of the biggest tournaments such as the World Cup!

It works for rugby, too, meaning if football really isn’t your cup of tea, you’re still covered.

The upshot here is if you’re only paying for a package just to watch a few games here and there, it’s worth seeking out where you can find them first. That helps you narrow down whether it’s worth paying for a day pass or for a larger subscription.

Use a different provider 

As you can see, NOW TV offers some pretty amazing deals regarding Sky Sports. 

Thankfully, though, other options are available for those of who can’t or don’t want to use the streamer.

For example, Eleven Sports can be used on any smart device. That includes your laptop, computer, tablet, smart TV, and even your smartphone. 

It is available worldwide and has access to all of the biggest sports on TV, to all of the niche matches and races you may not find elsewhere. 

You can watch certain sporting events for free or watch any match, race, etc., on pay-per-view. 

However, here’s the catch – it’s not necessarily available in your territory. Check the available locations before you buy!

You can also use BT Sport as an alternative to Sky Sports and NOW TV. You will need the BT Sport app to start watching – and, unlike with NOW TV, you will need to subscribe to a 24-month contract to access BT’s range of programming.

The contract costs £21 per month for the first six months, then doubles to £42 per month. Included in the BT Sport package is access to all 11 Sky Sports channels, as well as Eurosport 1 and 2, and even more from BT Sport. 

Before You Go…

Now that you’re aware of the different alternatives for Sky Sports, you can tackle the other areas of your Sky contract. If you’re happy with Sky but simply want to explore some ideas to soften the financial blow, check out my article on how to reduce your Sky bill for some tips and ideas. Hope it helps!

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