How to watch Sky Sports without a subscription

Jonathan Victoria • 19 Aug 2024 Guides

Your non-committal options for watching Sky Sports…

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How to watch Sky Sports without a subscription

Sky Sports has so much to offer in terms of live coverage of many popular sports, some of which are exclusive to the provider.

But not everyone wants to watch everything that they have to offer. Some people find a problem in that they only want to watch the sport they are interested in but don’t want to commit to long-term contracts that carry on when their favourite sport is no longer on.

That’s where we can help as we bring you your options and tell you how you can watch Sky Sports without a subscription, bypassing the longer commitment contracts while still enjoying the sport that you want to watch.

Why consider non-subscription options?

Choosing non-subscription options to watch Sky Sports offers significant benefits, particularly for those who prefer flexibility and cost-effectiveness.

Traditionally, sports channel subscriptions often require long-term commitments that may not align with your changing interests or financial situations.

However, in today’s world, many providers including Sky realise this fact and offer alternatives that do suit your needs and/or situations, with offerings of daily, weekly or monthly passes that allow you to only pay for the events or periods you are interested in.

This model is particularly appealing during major sporting events or seasons when you might only want access for a specific duration - for example, Premier League football runs from August one year to May the next year, meaning there’s a two-month period without it.

Some fans don’t see the need to keep hold of their subscription during this time. Where previously you had to simply put up with paying for Sky Sports without using it during the summer, now you can choose to leave Sky Sports off your TV package for some time then add it back in when you want to.

This is a positive in terms of your interests but these flexible services also help avoid the financial burden of an ongoing monthly fee, thus making it a budget-friendly choice for casual viewers or those who just follow specific sports.

How to watch Sky Sports without a subscription

Now let's look at your options. First things first, it should be said that there is no legal way to watch everything Sky Sports has to offer without paying for the service.

There are three channels that come free with Sky TV’s basic packages; Sky Sports News, Sky Sports Racing and Sky Sports Mix (more on these channels later). The remaining nine channels will need to be purchased.

To do so, you have some options, the most convenient and cheapest in the long term are the 24-month contracts. But of course, the point of this guide is to look at the other more flexible options.

Sky Sports 31-day rolling contract

Let’s start with Sky themselves, which offers you the chance to purchase Sky Sports on a 31-day rolling contract.

Whether you are a new or existing customer, you have the choice of adding Sky Sports to your TV package on a rolling contract, which means you pay month-by-month and can remove it whenever you’d like.

There is no cancellation fee for this option, you simply give Sky 31-days notice and then it will be taken off your package.

This is ideal for keeping all your Sky bills together in one place and makes it easy to customise your chosen package.

The Sky Sports 31-day rolling contract offer comes out to be slightly more expensive each month than the 24-month contract option but comes with the freedom of not being tied in for a certain amount of time.

The 31-day rolling contract currently costs £27 a month (correct as of 19/08/2024).

Sports Membership on NOW TV

Sky isn’t the only one offering this option, as NOW also offers monthly subscriptions with a few more options of how you want to pay, plus the choice of a day subscription.

NOW TV works in correlation to Sky and offers three TV memberships; Entertainment, Cinema and Sports. Obviously, here we are focusing on Sports.

The Sports subscription comes with all 12 Sky Sports channels and comes with the option of choosing between a one-off payment for a day membership, a flexible month membership with no contract, and a more committal 12-month saver membership.

Day Membership

As the name suggests, you gain access to the Sports subscription and subsequent Sky Sports channels for 24 hours.

There is no contract involved, it is simply a one-off payment of £14.99* that you can make as many times as you like, making it perfect for shorter events or if you only want to watch a specific team or fixture.

*Correct as of 19/08/2024.

Flexible Month Membership

This option is similar to Sky’s rolling contract in that you pay for a single month of Sky Sports with no contract and the option to cancel whenever you choose.

As it is a subscription, you will continue to pay each month unless you choose to cancel, during which you will have a further 30 days of viewing from the time of your cancellation.

This option comes at a cost of £34.99 a month (correct as of 19/08/2024), which is substantially more than Sky’s offering.

12-Month Saver Membership

The 12-month Saver Membership is the committed contract option which has unsurprisingly a 12-month minimum term.

You’ll have access to all 12 Sky Sports channels and you pay a fee of £26 a month (correct as 19/08/2024).

At the end of the 12 months, you are free to cancel anytime, otherwise, you can continue your subscription as a Flexible Month Membership.

NOW TV is available as an app that is downloadable on many devices, including most TV boxes, mobile, computer/laptops, game consoles and more.

Sky Sports with other providers

Other providers such as Virgin Media and BT also offer Sky Sports either as part of some of their package deals or as an add-on. It is done using a NOW Sports Subscription on a Flexible Month Membership but you’d pay through either Virgin Media or BT (whichever you are with or choose).

While it’s great that you have this option if you are with either of these providers or are looking to join either one, it will cost you more than if you chose to go with Sky and opted for their rolling contract option, so it is important you choose what is right for you.

What’s included with Sky Sports?

Sky Sports isn’t just live sport only, but also contains supporting content around events like previews and reviews, plus documentaries on players, teams and all sorts to keep the channel alive when there isn’t an event on.

Sky Sports channels

There are 12 Sky Sports channels in total, with the majority hosting their own dedicated sport. The channels are:

Sky Sports Main Event
Sky Sports Premier League
Sky Sports Football
Sky Sports Cricket
Sky Sports Golf
Sky Sports F1
Sky Sports Action
Sky Sports News (free)
Sky Sports+
Sky Sports Tennis
Sky Sports Racing (free)
Sky Sports Mix (free)

Sky Sports+

Sky Sports+ is the newest offering from the broadcaster, bringing more sport than ever before.

It is a new channel, taking over the pre-existing Sky Sports Arena, and will be the home to tennis (outside of Sky Sports Tennis), Rugby Super League, and most importantly EFL football.

In fact, the new deal between Sky and the EFL that was agreed earlier this year brings unprecedented coverage of the Championship, League One and League Two, bringing over 1000 games to the channel over the course of the season.

Sky Sports+ can be found as a channel on TV but is best used on the Sky Sports app, with many streams available to allow you to watch the games or events of your choosing.