The cost of living has made us re-evaluate what subscriptions we need in our life, including music apps, beauty boxes and streaming services. Almost everyone has at least one streaming service in their household but as monthly bills increase, we’ve been forced to cancel them in order to keep costs down.
As someone who uses their streaming services on a daily basis, I would hate to have to get rid of them but I am looking for ways to save money on streaming services rather than cancel them completely. This includes looking at what each streaming service has to offer, the fees and what tips and tricks I can use to keep the bills as low as possible.
One streaming service that I hadn’t considered but have many money-saving hacks is NOW TV. Owned by Sky, NOW TV is a popular streaming service that’s often overlooked in favour of Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+. However it’s highly rated due to its membership options, plus it unlocks tons of content from multiple channels and other streaming services.
Here’s how I save money on NOW TV, including cancelling Sky, checking the NOW offers page and more. If you’re interested in signing up to NOW TV, they often run some of the best streaming service deals, for example, in May, NOW TV offered a 3 month discount on its Cinema, Entertainment and Boost package.
1. Downgrade your membership
If you’re already a NOW TV user, you might want to reconsider your membership, how much you pay for it and if you’re getting the most out of all the options. NOW TV has multiple subscriptions to choose from which I’ll explain here.
The Entertainment package is £9.99 a month and if you add on NOW Boost, this is an extra £5, totalling to £14.99 a month. The Cinema package is also the same price of £14.99 a month with Boost. For Sports, you can choose from a day or month membership and prices start at around £11.99 a month. If you’re a reality fan, you can also add hayu to your package for £4.99 a month.
By evaluating what you plan to use NOW TV for, you can get it at the lowest possible price of £9.99 which is the same as the standard Netflix plan. I’d recommend taking advantage of the £15 a month for 3 months deal mentioned above and once that comes to an end, looking over what you actually used NOW TV for and what you want to keep and get rid of. NOW Boost isn’t compulsory with your purchase but it will remove adverts and upgrade the quality of your streaming. This is worth considering but in my opinion, a few adverts isn’t the end of the world if you’re trying to cut your monthly costs.
2. Cancel Sky for NOW TV
As NOW TV is owned by Sky, NOW TV users get access to all Sky channels, exclusives, network premieres and movie releases. Since you can get everything from Sky with a NOW TV subscription, I’d suggest cancelling your Sky TV package to save extra money a month. The same can be said for Virgin users. Overall, if you pay for all the memberships available with NOW TV (Entertainment, Cinema, Sports, hayu and Boost), this will be cheaper than paying for Sky TV.
3. Check the NOW Offers page
As a Deals Writer, I’m always on the hunt for top deals and NOW TV is the number one streaming service that consistently has discounts every month for its users and new customers to take advantage of. Head to the NOW TV Offers page and you’ll find loads of offers, including package bundles, 7 day free trials and cheaper membership options, especially on Sports. For example, you can currently get a 3 month Sports subscription for just £20 a month which is 41% cheaper than the original price of £33.99.
Previous NOW TV deals include 40% off the Entertainment & Cinema bundle on Cyber Monday 2021 so having a look around the seasonal sales is definitely a good idea. Another tip for NOW TV offers is to check the emails they send you. NOW TV will send you emails with special offers and discounts, plus if you ever go to cancel your subscription, you’ll often be given a monthly discount if you stay.
4. Download & watch offline
This is a tip I’ve used a lot in my other streaming subscription guides but it really does make a big difference. If you’re travelling and fancy watching some TV to pass the time, make sure to download what you want to watch before you head out to avoid racking up your phone bill. By watching NOW TV offline on your phone or tablet, you’re not wasting as much data and you won’t be hit with a huge phone bill at the end of the month.
5. ‘Pause’ your subscription
Like most streaming services, NOW TV doesn’t have a contract length so you can cancel it at any time at no extra cost. This means you can ‘pause’ your subscription for a month or so and then sign back up when you want to. You won’t be charged extra if you do this and you may be offered discounts and special offers when you sign back up, either via email or on the offers page.
For more money saving hacks, check out my guides on how to save money on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, YouTube Premium and StarzPlay.
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Beth is Home Editor for T3, looking after style, living and wellness. From the comfiest mattresses to strange things you can cook in an air fryer, Beth covers sleep, yoga, smart home, coffee machines, watches, grooming tools, fragrances, gardening and much more. If it's something that goes in your house, chances are Beth knows about it and has the latest reviews and recommendations! She's also in the know about the latest deals and discount codes from top brands and retailers.
Having always been passionate about writing, she’s written for websites, newspapers and magazines on a variety of topics, from jewellery and culture, to food and telecoms. You can find her work across numerous sites, including Wedding Ideas Magazine, Health & Wellbeing, The Bristol Post, Fashion & Style Directory, TechRadar, CreativeBloq and more. In her spare time, Beth enjoys running, reading, baking and attempting craft projects that will probably end in disaster!