Sky is a major UK provider of digital entertainment products, as well as an internet service provider (ISP) and mobile phone company. With popular channels like Sky Football and Cricket or Sky Cinema, it offers an all-round entertainment service all over the UK, with options for TVs, computers and smartphones alike.
This buyer's guide explores Sky's main subsidiaries and what they have to offer, and it offers plenty of info about how to find a cheap Sky package that works for you.
Sky TV first started broadcasting in 1989, when news mogul Rupert Murdoch launched the UK's first satellite television service. In 1990, it became a much more powerful force, absorbing British Satellite Broadcasting and beginning an expansion that continues to this day.
1992 saw an even more important milestone for the company, when it acquired the rights to screen the first season of football's Premier League. Now, millions of football fans across the country started to flock to Sky's satellite services, as they became the only place to watch live domestic fixtures.
Multichannels arrived in 1993, allowing viewers to bundle together Sky Movies, its entertainment channels and Sky Sport before Sky Digital introduced the first interactive services in 1998. By 2010, Sky was beaming content to 10 million homes across the UK, either via its satellite, cable or internet services. At the same time, it continued to expand and innovate, branching out into mobile phone and ISP services and launching flexible “On Demand” viewing services for customers to enjoy.
Nowadays, if you love football, golf, F1, cricket, movies, comedy, the arts, drama... any type of on-screen entertainment, Sky is a go-to brand, with plenty of products to think about buying.
Sky is the kind of company that reaches across various product areas, but they tend to have one thing in common: digital entertainment. Whether it's their broadband packages, their smartphone connections, or their satellite channels, Sky offers plenty of ways to connect to television, sport, movies, games and betting services.
But with such a variety of packages around, it's not always easy to buy exactly what you need and no more. Before we work out how to find the ideal Sky package for you, the first step is to establish exactly what they have to offer, so here's a quick run down of the Sky product range:
Sky Sports – Probably the jewel in the Sky crown, Sky Sport has famously held the rights to screen Premier League football since the 1992-1993 season, and also offers England Test Matches, the Ryder Cup and major boxing bouts along with plenty of rugby, tennis and other more niche sports. The sporting side of things at Sky was reorganised in 2017. Where there were previously three main Sky Sport channels, viewers can now pick between Sky Sports Main Event, Cricket, Golf, Football, F1, Action, and Arena as well as Sky Sports News, which is bundled in free with most deals anyway. In theory, this allows you to focus only on the types of sport you love without paying for others, but picking the right mix isn't always easy. We'll have a look at the best ways to do so below.
Sky News – Sky News is one of the UK's biggest news producers and broadcasters, maintaining a 24/7 live feed of current affairs coverage. There's a dedicated HD news channel as well (Sky News HD), along with various red button digital extras to help find the information you need. Sky News is generally available free to air with all digital services, including options like Freeview, so there's no need to take out a specialist news subscription.
Sky Cinema – When Sky Sports was reorganised, the company's movie arm also underwent major changes with the introduction of Sky Cinema. Now, movie fans can pick from channels like Sky Cinema Premiere, Greats, Disney, Family, Action and Adventure, Comedy, Drama & Romance, Sci-Fi, Crime & Thriller, Hits and Sky Cinema Select. Every day sees a new film premiere on the network, and there are hundreds of titles available via their video-on-demand services, too, providing a rival for companies like Amazon or Netflix.
Sky's Entertainment Channels – Along with movies, Sky also provide a varied schedule of TV dramas, comedy, theatrical transmissions, music performances and documentaries. Sky One is home to new episodes of the Simpsons and has also seen major US imports like Glee, Battlestar Galactica, and Prison Break, while Sky Two and Sky Atlantic feature plenty of other shows with a US-focus. Sky Arts is slightly different, specialising in dance, theatre, art, and music with an emphasis on live performance, while Sky Living is mainly concerned with domestic shows, featuring cookery, design and health programming.
Sky Broadband – Introduced in 2006, Sky Broadband is one of the UK's largest broadband providers with over 6 million customers across the country. While Sky provides high-quality fibre broadband, the firm's real selling point as an ISP is it's ability to offer Sky HD television and sports via their broadband connections (Sky On Demand), letting you watch what you want, whenever you want.
Sky Mobile – Sky have also dived into the world of smartphone contracts, realising that these devices would become a major means of watching digital TV and sports content. Partnering with O2 in 2016, they offer a full range of contracts and handsets, with tariffs based more around data than calls – suiting those who stream a lot of Premier League football matches or Sky Cinema releases.
Sky Bet – A natural complement to Sky Sport and Sky Sports News, Sky Bet is a fully-featured online and smartphone gambling service which operates at arms length from the main Sky organisation but retains full Sky branding. It features Sky Vegas, Casino, Poker and Bingo along with the core Sky Bet platform allowing members to bet on all types of sporting events. It also features various popular sport related betting options, including Soccer Saturday Super 6 (where players have to predict six scores accurately) or Sky's Fantasy Football tournament, both of which have big cash prizes.
Sky Go – Launched in 2006, Sky Go allows Sky subscribers to watch the content they want via whatever device is most convenient, including smartphones, computers, tablets, Xbox and PlayStation consoles. Not all of Sky's programming is available via the Sky Go on demand service, but plenty of TV shows and sports highlights are, and it's all free for subscribers to access. The snag is that whatever you watch will be available only for a short period of time, and there's no chance of saving it to watch later, but regardless of this, Sky Go is a handy tool for watching content on the move.
Now that Sky have reorganised their sporting channels, buyers have many more options when sorting out their football, golf, F1, or cricket-watching purchases.
Sky's main sport package involves signing up for Sky TV, which means getting hold of a Sky Q Box, and choosing a bundle from their current selections then adding Sky Sport channels on top of that with an extra monthly charge.
It's not the cheapest way to watch sport, and it's not particularly focused, but it does provide access to other channels for family members who aren't crazy about sport, and it sorts everything out in one package, so it's pretty convenient.
When you start a standard package, you can also sign up for the Sky Sport channels you want. In this case, customers can go for packages with one, two or three channels (from the selection of Sky Sport channels like Cricket, Football, Main Event, F1 or Golf), and prices rise slightly depending on how many channels you add.
There's also the option to sign up for all of the Sky Sports channels via Sky's “Complete Sports Pack”, which is a sound option for all-round sports fans.
In all cases, you'll need to sign up for an 18-month Sky contract as part of the deal, so be aware that these offers lock buyers in for the duration, potentially resulting in higher costs by the time the contract ends.
That's why many people are choosing other ways to purchase Sky Sport access. NOW TV is probably the most popular of all. Being affiliated with Sky, NOW can offer day, week or month passes for selected Sky channels, letting you sign up for specific football matches or F1 races but avoiding the need for long-term contracts.
All you need is the NOW TV box, which can be ordered from their own website, providing the most flexible way to access the sports you love. However, if you know you'll be watching football week in, week out, NOW TV isn't necessarily the cheapest option. Their passes are great value for the odd event, but costs rack up if you find yourself using them regularly.
Sky Broadband provides a simple way to get up and running on the internet while linking together all of your devices with digital entertainment services, so it's a great option for families with diverse viewing and web-browsing habits.
The company offers four main broadband packages, ranging dramatically in price:
Sky Broadband Unlimited – The most basic package, and easily the cheapest, Broadband Unlimited offers a reliable internet connection with a low introductory rate for 12 months then a higher rate for the rest of the contract (which is something to be aware of). Along with web access, you'll get access to Sky Talk, their landline service. All connections come with a small connection fee as well, but with the Unlimited package, this is minimal.
Sky Fibre – Fibre ups the ante considerably, offering download speeds that are three times as fast as Broadband Unlimited and raising the price as well (but not by nearly as much). The catch is that the basic Fibre package comes with a 25GB data allowance, and you'll need to pay more if you go over that limit, which can be a hidden cost for some data-intensive users (or just people who want to use their internet connection to watch Sky content).
Sky Fibre Unlimited – As the name hints, Fibre Unlimited does away with the download limit but offers the same faster download rates. As with Sky Fibre, it comes with a steep connection fee (around six times as much as the fee for Broadband Unlimited), but it's a great package for TV and movie viewers, with its slick speeds and lack of limits.
Sky Fibre Max – The highest-end internet package offered by Sky, Fibre Max is like an express train compared with the other options, delivering download speeds in excess of 57MB/s. There are no download limits, but with a price tag over double that of the cheapest package, users will want to think hard about whether these perks are worthwhile.
Regardless of which package you opt for, all Sky internet services come with Sky Talk as well as the Q Box (which lets you access TV and on demand entertainment) as well as extra security options like Talk Shield (to screen out nuisance callers) and Broadband Shield (to ward off viruses and malware).
Which option you go for will depend on what you need to use your internet connection for. If you just need a basic connection for online shopping, reading the news, checking Facebook and sending emails, then the slowest, cheapest subscription will be more than sufficient. But if you want to take advantage of Sky's mixture of high-speed internet and entertainment programming, one of the Fibre options is essential. Fibre Max is attractive, if expensive, but it's worth noting that Sky offer a month-long guarantee. If Fibre Max doesn't live up to its superfast billing, you can get your money back – kind of like a free trial period.
Along with high-speed internet, Sky also offer mobile services that are tailored for entertainment and sports consumers. If you use your phone heavily for watching TV shows, movies or sport, there won't be many better companies offering a new contract.
Sky Mobile offers several selling points. For one thing, they make it easy to swap your handset when a new model becomes available. Their Swap12 contracts include the option of receiving the latest iPhone or Samsung Galaxy when they become available, often at rates far cheaper than buying the handset separately.
Their data services are also pretty innovative. Unlike some networks, the data you don't use with Sky Mobile is “rolled over” at the end of the month and can be used the next month or whenever you feel like it, so nothing is wasted. This probably reflects their desire to get customers using Sky's streaming services, but has plenty of advantageous side effects for all customers.
As with many networks, Sky's mobile packages come with generous free texts and calls as enticements to sign up, so shop around for current deals, and they can also be customised in many ways allowing you to fine-tune the minutes, data and calls attached to your contract.
But as we noted before, the real strength of Sky Mobile lies in the way it relates to Sky's other services. With Sync, you can schedule shows on your phone to watch at your leisure. They can be watched via streams or downloaded too, and all without exhausting your data allowance. Not many mobile providers can match that kind of entertainment feature.
Of course, not all mobile users buy their handsets and packages based on TV or sport viewing. But if you are that kind of customer, Sky Mobile are worth checking out. However, if you're not, be careful. As with all networks, Sky offer some great value contracts and some that don't measure up. Although the vast majority of the mobile deals you'll come across at HotUKDeals are a cut above the rest, it always pays to calculate the total contract cost when signing up, as it's easy to end up out of pocket.
If you want to try your luck on the football results, you feel like some Vegas-style gaming or you want to play a few rounds of bingo, Sky Bet is the place to be. Signing up is fairly simple, but as usual with online gambling sites, you'll have to pass through a few verification and identification hoops before you can start wagering.
When you're in, the cost of gambling with Sky Bet can be cut if you know the ropes. Like its competitors, Sky Bet offer regular free bet discounts for customers to enjoy, and surprisingly few patrons actually bother to take them up (which is one reason such companies continue to offer them). That's extra baffling, as finding these deals isn't hard.
Aside from checking out the Sky Bet listings at HotUKDeals, you can head over afterwards to the Promotions section at their website. It's actually worth doing this before you even sign up with the service as it's an even bet, so to speak, that you'll come across introductory deals for new members.
If you want to access weekly free bets, joining the Sky Bet Club is also a great idea. All you have to do to qualify for a weekly free £5 bet is to wager £25 in the previous week, effectively providing a weekly discount. As long as you don't get too carried away, it's an excellent way to place a couple of Premier League bets or back a few horses, saving money in the process.
We've already touched on NOW TV as an alternative way to access Sky's entertainment services, but what about other options?
One thing to bear in mind is that Sky Broadband isn't the only service which lets you hook up with Sky's channels. For instance, Virgin Media offer Sky Sport as part of their broadband and TV packages (called Virgin TV). If you are combining high speed web access with a landline and sport subscriptions, their offers are well worth checking out.
Sky Sports Main Event can even be added on top of a BT Sports bundle (although the Sky Premier League channel isn't included, but BT's matches are).
So don't limit yourself to Sky alone. NOW TV, BT and Virgin all provide access to the company's products, and all of them offer discounts throughout the year.
Signing up for Sky's entertainment, internet, mobile or betting services doesn't have to be as expensive as you might think. While many customers feel the need to fork out over £50 a month to watch football or Game of Thrones, you can do better by shopping smart and taking into account all of the latest offers.
HotUKDeals offers a kind of clearing house of all of the best Sky TV offers UK providers have to offer. You'll find the latest money off deals from Sky themselves, with introductory discounts and generous subscription packages as well as passes from NOW TV. If you are looking for a pass to watch a big game, you'll be likely to find one at the HotUKDeals Sky listings.
The same applies to broadband, bets and mobile contracts. Everything that Sky sells is regularly available for much less than the listed prices. The secret is finding and unlocking the best deals, and HotUKDeals makes this easy.
It's also important to remember that Sky participate in major sales periods just like anyone else. So when Black Friday approaches and you need a TV package or a new internet deal, be sure to check out Sky's listings. The offers won't last long, but there are sure to be some killer discounts.
From Premier League classics to thrilling F1 races, and from the latest Hollywood blockbusters to the slickest American dramas, Sky makes it easy to access some of the UK's favourite on-screen entertainment. Whether you are a sports fan or a movie buff, find the best possible TV, internet or mobile packages by checking out the Sky HotUKDeals listings.
