For years, Sky TV was always considered to be a bit of a luxury, with the need to install a satellite dish and its exclusive access to things like Premier League football and the latest Hollywood blockbusters allowing it to command a premium price tag.
But now Sky is trying to change that, pitching its new streaming services as a much more affordable option for households, with a new, entry-level package that’s available for just 50p a day, or, in other words, £15 a month.
The newly announced Sky Essential TV package comes with a basic selection of Sky TV channels, plus the most basic Netflix tier and Discovery+.
It’s the most affordable Sky TV package ever announced, even cheaper than the £19 per month deal that was pitched for a couple of days during the Black Friday sales last month.
To access the Sky Essential TV package, you’ll need to ditch the dish and install a funky new Sky Stream box, which is essentially a kind of set-top box that streams content over the internet, much like Netflix does.
With Sky Stream, you’ll get personalised recommendations from Sky, access to all of the major streaming apps, and a fair bit of storage space for saving content to watch at a later date.
When most people think of buying Sky they expect some seriously high monthly bills but that's no longer the case. The telly firm has just announced the launch of a new Sky Essential TV package which includes Netflix, Discovery+ and full access to channels such as Sky Atlantic for just £15 per month.
In case you’re wondering what you’ll actually get with the Sky Essential package, the exact list isn’t made clear, but the company said mentioned Sky Atlantic and various others, along with Netflix (with ads), Discovery+, which provides access to Eurosport and TNT Sports content, plus over 90 free-to-air channels.
The bigger question really is what don’t you get, and there’s a fairly exhaustive list of missing channels, such as Sky Max, Sky Documentaries, Sky Crime, Sky Showcase, Sky Witness, Sky Nature, Sky Comedy, Sky Sci-Fi and MTV Music. To access all of those channels, you’ll need to sign up for the pricier Sky Ultimate TV package, which costs quite a bit more, at £22 a month. That is, however, much cheaper than the old £28 per month price.
With the Ultimate package, you’ll also get additional content such as U&alibi, Comedy Central, U&GOLD and National Geographic.
Of course, if you want the latest Hollywood movies and Premier League football, you’ll need to pay a substantially larger sum again, as these packages also cost more money.
Although there’s quite a few things missing, at 50 pence per day the new Essential TV package may well prove to be enticing for some viewers, especially if they don’t yet have access to Netflix. Bear in mind that you’ll need a WiFi speed of around 50 Mbps or more, and Sky requires users to sign up for a minimum period of 24 months.
“We’re excited to share our world-class TV experience with even more people, at an everyday low price with Sky Essential TV,” said Sky TV’s managing director Ben Case. “Our new TV pack makes it easier than ever to get the biggest and best shows from Sky, Netflix and discovery+ all in one place, just in time for the Christmas TV season.”
