Sky TV alternatives in the UK: what each one really costs in 2026

*Updated September 2026. Prices checked on the providers' own websites on 27 September 2026.*

The cheapest alternative to Sky TV in the UK is Freeview, which costs nothing beyond the TV licence and carries BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. If you want more than that, most households end up with Freeview or Freely plus one or two streaming apps, which comes to roughly £70 to £530 a year depending on how many you stack. Live football is the expensive part: seeing every televised Premier League match costs roughly £650 to £730 a season whichever way you buy it.

Below is every realistic option with its current price, a comparison table and four example households. Prices change often, so check the provider's site before you sign anything.

First, the TV licence

Almost every option on this page needs a TV licence. From 1 April 2026 it costs £180 a year. You need one to watch or record live TV on any channel or service, and to use BBC iPlayer at all.

That applies whichever option you choose, so we have left it out of the totals below. Put it in your budget all the same.

The free options

Freeview

Freeview is free to watch. You need an aerial and either a television with Freeview built in (most sets sold in the UK have it) or a Freeview box. You get the BBC channels, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and dozens of others, plus the catch-up apps if the telly is connected to the internet. Freeview says 2 Mbps of broadband is enough for its catch-up and on-demand side.

If most of your viewing is the news, soaps, quiz shows and the odd Sunday night drama, Freeview is the right answer and nothing else on this page will beat it.

Freely

Freely is the newer, internet-based option, backed by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. It streams the live channels over broadband with no subscription and no aerial. You need a Freely TV or a compatible streaming device, and Freely asks for at least 10 Mbps. It is handy if your aerial reception is poor or you live in a flat with no aerial socket.

BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4 and 5

These catch-up apps are free to use (iPlayer needs the licence). The commercial ones carry adverts, and some sell an ad-free upgrade, so check the current price in the app if adverts bother you.

NOW: Sky's own contract-free service

NOW is owned by Sky and streams Sky's channels over the internet. Every membership rolls month to month, so you can stop and start it whenever you like. Prices on nowtv.com at the time of writing:

• Entertainment: £7.99 a month (a six-month saver at £4.99 a month was on offer)
• Entertainment & HBO Max: £9.99 a month
• Cinema: £9.99 a month
• Sports: £34.99 a month, or a Sports Day Membership at £14.99 for 24 hours
• Boost: £6 a month extra for Full HD, two screens at once and no adverts on demand (live channels still carry adverts)

A 12-month Sports saver at £27.99 a month has also been advertised this season. It locks you in for the full year, so it only helps if you would have paid through the summer anyway.

NOW's big advantage is that you only pay for the months you watch. That is where most of the saving over a 24-month Sky contract comes from.

TNT Sports, now on HBO Max

TNT Sports used to stream through discovery+. On 26 March 2026 it moved to HBO Max. The TNT Sports plan on HBO Max costs £30.99 a month with no contract, or £25.99 a month on a 12-month plan. You can also get it through BT or EE TV (below), or as an add-on to a Sky TV subscription, where you should check the current price on sky.com.

The big streaming apps

• Netflix raised its UK prices in September 2026. Standard with adverts is now £7.99 a month, Standard £13.99 and Premium £20.99. New customers pay the new price straight away and existing members move over after notice.
• Disney+ costs £5.99 a month with adverts, £9.99 for Standard and £14.99 for Premium. Paid yearly, Standard is £99.90 and Premium £149.90. The with-adverts plan is due to rise to £6.99, but at the time of writing the date had not been confirmed.
• Prime Video comes with Amazon Prime at £8.99 a month or £95 a year. It shows adverts as standard, and removing them costs £2.99 a month extra at the time of writing.
• Apple TV (the service that used to be called Apple TV+) is £9.99 a month after a seven-day free trial.

Sky itself, for comparison

It is only fair to price Sky on the same page. For new customers on a 24-month contract, Sky lists:

• Essential TV from £15 a month, including Sky Atlantic, discovery+ and Netflix Standard with adverts
• Ultimate TV from £24 a month, including Netflix, Disney+ and HBO Max
• Essential TV with Sky Sports at £35 a month
• Sky Cinema as an add-on at £14 a month

Sky states that prices may change during the minimum term. If you are already with Sky and the bill has just gone up, our guide to leaving after a Sky price rise explains where you stand.

Virgin Media

Virgin Media only sells TV with its broadband, so its prices are not like for like with the others. Broadband with Flex TV starts from £28.99 a month on a 24-month contract. The Sport bundle, with Sky Sports and 350 Mbps broadband, starts from £52.99 a month. Virgin states the standard price for that bundle from month 25 is currently £151 a month, which is the number to diary.

BT and EE TV

BT and EE revamped their TV packages in September 2026. Both need to be bundled with their broadband. Entertainment, with NOW Entertainment and Netflix Standard with adverts, is £10 a month. Sport, with the TNT Sports channels, is £5 a month for three months and then £27 a month on EE's 24-month contract, rising to £29 in March 2027. Sport Plus adds NOW Sports and costs £55 a month after its introductory period.

An IPTV subscription

An IPTV subscription delivers live channels and an on-demand library through an app on a Firestick, smart TV, Android box or phone, over your existing broadband. BingeBear is one. It has no monthly bill: one-off plans run from £60 for six months to £255 for Lifetime, with six years of guaranteed service, each on one device, plus a £13 player activation on the six- and ten-month plans. There is no contract and a free 24-hour trial with no card.

The honest caveats: it depends on your broadband holding up, so check our internet speed guide first, and use the trial to open the channels you actually watch rather than trusting any list. Read the terms of any service before you pay, ours included, and only use services and content you are authorised to access.

Sky TV alternatives UK: the cost table

Monthly prices are rolling unless the contract column says otherwise. Yearly is the monthly price times 12, or the provider's own annual price where one exists. TV licence and broadband are not included.

Four example households

These use the prices above, exclude the TV licence and broadband, and assume you pay for a full year unless stated.

1. Mostly terrestrial

Freeview on its own. £0 a year. Add a catch-up app or two and it is still £0. For a lot of people this is the whole answer, and switching from Sky is pure saving.

2. Terrestrial plus one streamer

Freeview and one app with adverts: Disney+ at £71.88 a year, Netflix at £95.88, or Amazon Prime at £95 if you would use the free delivery anyway. Around £72 to £96 a year.

A cheaper habit is to keep one app at a time and swap every few months, so you pay for one subscription but still get round all of them.

3. Films and box sets

Netflix Standard (£13.99), Disney+ Standard (£9.99), NOW Entertainment & HBO Max (£9.99) and NOW Cinema (£9.99) comes to £43.96 a month, or £527.52 a year.

Here Sky can genuinely come out ahead. Ultimate TV (£24) plus Sky Cinema (£14) is £38 a month, £456 a year, and bundles most of the same apps, though you commit for 24 months and should check which Netflix tier is included. If you want all of it all year round, the Sky bundle is worth pricing. If you would rotate, the separate apps win.

4. Football fan

To see every televised Premier League match you need both Sky Sports and TNT Sports. NOW Sports plus TNT Sports on HBO Max, both monthly and cancelled for the summer, costs £659.80 for the ten months of the season. Sky Essential TV with Sky Sports plus TNT Sports on a 12-month HBO Max plan comes to £731.88 a year, with Sky's entertainment channels included. The full workings, including day passes and broadband-bundle deals, are in our guide to the cost to watch the Premier League in 2026/27.

Where each option wins

• Freeview or Freely wins if you mostly watch the main channels. Nothing is cheaper.
• One streaming app wins if you want new series and films but don't mind waiting and rotating.
• Sky Ultimate TV can win for a household that genuinely uses several big apps every month and is happy with a 24-month contract.
• NOW wins for sport or Sky dramas you only want for part of the year, because it stops when you stop.
• Virgin Media or BT and EE make sense if you are changing broadband anyway and the bundle price beats buying the pieces separately, as long as you diary the end of the contract.
• A one-off IPTV plan suits people who want a wide spread of live channels and on-demand content for a single payment, have steady broadband and have tested it first.

Before you cancel Sky

Check when your minimum term ends and whether an early termination charge applies before you do anything. Our step-by-step guide to cancelling Sky TV covers who to contact and what to return.

Try before you change anything

Whichever way you go, don't pay for television you haven't seen working in your own sitting room. Freeview and Freely cost nothing to try. NOW and most of the streaming apps are month to month.

If you want to see how an IPTV subscription compares on your own telly and broadband, the BingeBear free 24-hour trial needs only a name and a WhatsApp number, with no card. A real person helps you install the app on whatever device you already have, over WhatsApp. Full prices are on the UK pricing page.