Now (Sky)
Now (formerly Now TV and often stylised as NOW) is a subscription over-the-top streaming television service operated by British satellite television provider Sky Group and American cable provider Xfinity. Launched in the United Kingdom in 2012, the service is also available in Ireland, Italy, Germany (as WOW, formerly as Sky Online and Sky Ticket), Austria (as SkyX), Switzerland and the United States (as part of its parent company Comcast's Xfinity unit).
This article is about a pay-TV operator in Europe. For the pay-TV operator of a similar name based in Hong Kong, see Now TV (Hong Kong).Other names
Now TV (2012–2021)
Sky Group
Xfinity
17 July 2012
- English (United Kingdom, Ireland, and United States)
- German (Germany (as WOW, formerly as Sky Online and Sky Ticket), Austria (as SkyX) and Switzerland)
- Italian (Italy)
- nowtv
.com (UK) - nowtv
.com (Ireland)/ie - wowtv
.de (Germany) - nowtv
.it (Italy) - xfinity
.com (U.S.)/nowtv
Now offers both live streaming and video-on-demand without a contract. The service offers "passes" for various types of content, for a monthly fee on a pay-as-you-go basis. Differing passes offer films, sports and entertainment from Sky such as material from Sky Atlantic and Sky Cinema, and from British and American licensed third parties such as Fox Broadcasting Company.[1] The service is available to consumers through retail Roku-based Now TV digital media players (in both set-top box and HDMI dongle form factors) as well as via an app on computers, various mobile devices, some game consoles and set-top boxes. It is separate from and not viewable through the Sky Go Internet service, or via Sky's digital satellite television service Sky Q.
History and coverage[edit]
Sky Picnic[edit]
Sky Picnic was a proposed pay television service which would have sat alongside Freeview and Top Up TV on the digital terrestrial television (DTT) platform in the United Kingdom.[2] The proposal detailed replacing Sky's three free-to-air channels (Sky News, Sky Sports News and Sky Mix) with five pay TV channels: Sky Sports, Sky Cinema plus Sky One during the evening with one hour of Sky News content. There would also be two further daytime channels: a factual channel and a children's channel.[3] It was first proposed in 2007 but was subject to a public consultation by Ofcom.[4] Whilst the service was cleared to launch in 2010[5] it never officially launched, Sky having put it on hold in 2008.[6]
The Sky Picnic proposal was ultimately superseded by the internet-based Now TV platform.
Content and channels[edit]
Upon its UK debut in 2012, Now TV offered only films at first, adding sports in March 2013,[26] and entertainment channels in October 2013.[27][28] Film and entertainment channels are accessed by paying a monthly fee, and sports are on an ad-hoc basis ("pay as you go"). Unlike Sky's flagship satellite TV service, Now TV does not require a long-term contract.[1]
Now TV offers "passes" with a specific set of content or channels that can be watched on demand or as live TV. The "Entertainment" pass has general entertainment content/channels from Sky itself (e.g. Sky Atlantic) and third parties (e.g. Comedy Central), whilst the "Kids" pass covers children's networks such as Nickelodeon, and a "Sky Cinema" pass offers over a thousand films from Sky Cinema. There is also a dedicated "Hayu" pass, and a "Sports" pass (which offers a daily or monthly option), along with a sports pass solely for mobile devices[29] to stream live Sky Sports channels.[30]
The Now TV boxes and dongles have extra downloadable apps that provide access to free catch-up or streaming services such as BBC iPlayer, ITVX, and UKTV Play, as well as access to Sky Store, Netflix (added in late 2018), Peacock (added in November 2021), Sky Box Office, Disney+ (added in April 2020)[31] and YouTube.[32] In the Spring of 2020, Now TV provided access to TNT Sports, and at the same time Now TV became available for EE TV customers.[33]
On 28 June 2022, National Geographic departed the service as its programming moved over to Disney+.[34] In its place, Now users had access to UKTV's mystery drama channel Alibi and NBC News Now,[35] whilst customers with the Sky Cinema subscription package could access a range of films from Paramount+.[36]
Reception[edit]
As of Q4 2018, Now TV had a 10% share in the UK OTT subscription market, placing it third behind Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.[50]
for the United Kingdom and Ireland
