Sky Stream vs Virgin Media Flex

Sky Stream is replacing Sky Q, with the service offering the same features and Sky Entertainment channels, but with full HD content as standard.

Virgin Flex is more budget-friendly, offering a subscription-free way to watch free-to-air content, with paid-for content an optional extra.

Both boxes support a number of on-demand apps, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Paramount+, Youtube, and Apple TV+.

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At a glance: Sky Stream vs Virgin Flex

Best deals

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Which is best? Sky Stream or Virgin Flex?

Virgin Media launched Stream TV in April 2022, later to become Flex TV in October 2024, while Sky's new online streaming platform went live in October 2022.

Both services should appeal to customers looking for an easy and flexible way of watching premium TV content, with rolling monthly terms on both channel packs and on-demand apps.

Sky Stream has more content than Virgin Flex, with the included Sky Entertainment plan offering access to over 150 live TV channels, including popular channels like Sky Atlantic, Sky Max, Sky Showcase, National Geographic, Eurosport, and the Discovery suite, among others.

The monthly price of Sky Stream also includes a subscription to Netflix Standard with Ads, worth £4.99 per month, or customers can upgrade to the Standard or Premium plans for a little extra. Sky customers also gain access to Discovery+ Basic worth £3.99 per month.

It's also now possible to take a cheaper version of Sky TV, with their Essential TV plan costing just £15 per month, but including Sky Atlantic, Netflix and Discovery+.

Sky boxes offer wide support for additional on-demand apps, including Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, Paramount+, Hayu, Spotify, BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4, and My5. Virgin Media have been improving their app support, recently adding Disney+, Paramount+, and Apple TV+ to their platform, yet, customers still miss out on Discovery+, Hayu, and Spotify.

Other benefits available to Sky TV customers include free access to Paramount+ and free cinema tickets with Sky Cinema, and upgraded access to Discovery+ Premium with the TNT Sports pack.

Virgin Flex is cheaper out of the box though, with customers able to use the box from just a £5 monthly subscription. While the same premium content can be added on a flexible rolling monthly basis too, including channel packs from Sky Sports, TNT Sports, and Sky Cinema.

Customers can opt for a rolling monthly term with either provider, although those willing to contract for longer can access cheaper prices with Sky Stream.

Sky also beat Virgin in terms of Ultra HD content, although Virgin Flex now offers access to Sky Sports Ultra HD, and the TNT Sports pack includes TNT Sports Ultimate in 4K at no extra cost.

Ultimately, it's likely availability will be a big deciding factor for customers, with Virgin Flex only available to Virgin Media broadband customers, while Sky Stream is available nationwide and isn't so closely tied to Sky's broadband services, although discounts for bundling are available.

However, overall, while the differences have narrowed since their launch, for TV content and comprehensiveness Sky Stream remains a clear winner against Virgin Flex.

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Price

Winner: Virgin Flex is cheaper than Sky Stream, with customers able to use the box for Freeview and free catch-up apps for just £5 per month.

Virgin Flex TV offers a cheaper and more flexible way to dip in and out of premium channel packs on a monthly basis.

Setup costs £10 for the Stream box, and there is a low monthly fee of £5 per month for the Flex service with 150 channels including Freeview.

Here's how Virgin Flex and Sky Stream compare for the basic package:

Virgin Media is actively adding more F.A.S.T. content to their boxes, this stands for Free Ad-Supported TV, and covers channels in addition to Freeview including apps like Pluto TV and Rakuten.

The quality of this kind of programming can vary and won't suit everyone's tastes, but it's a great way for Virgin to expand the free content available to their customers.

Premium channel packs vary in price between Sky Stream and Virgin Flex, although Virgin Flex can work out cheaper if customers only want access to one or two packs as all Sky Stream customers have to take at least some premium content, even in the new budget Essential plan.

Here's how they compare:

Prices look quite different in comparison between Sky Stream and Virgin Flex, but it's important to consider how each provider has approached their streaming service differently.

Sky Stream very much mirrors their premium satellite TV service, and is clearly meant to eventually replace Sky Q entirely. Customers always have to pay the base monthly price, and then any additional TV packs they add on top.

It's now possible to choose between Sky Essential TV and Sky Ultimate TV, for those who want to save some money and just watch the most popular content on Sky Atlantic.

Virgin Flex, on the other hand, is a more paired down service than their TV 360 platform, with customers provided access to apps and channel packs on a more 'on-demand' basis.

This does mean that while Virgin Flex can work out cheaper, customers get less channels compared to Sky Stream, and Sky also bundle extras in their subscriptions, such as Netflix and Discovery+ Basic, as well as Paramount+ with Sky Cinema and Discovery+ Premium with TNT Sports, which does balance out the difference a little bit more as well.

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Flexibility

Winner: Draw - both Virgin Flex and Sky Stream are available on monthly rolling terms, although this does increase the cost with Sky.

Sky Stream's cheapest prices come when a customer is willing to take a 24-month minimum term, however, it's also possible to pay a little extra for a 31-day rolling term on the entire service.

These monthly rolling options extend to premium packs including Sky Sports and Sky Cinema, which were previously only available on lengthy contract terms with Sky Q.

Virgin Flex is also aptly named and itself very flexible, with all of their channel packs provided on rolling 30-day terms, and there is no commitment for using the Stream box for just Freeview either.

Here's how they look side-by-side:

The downside to Sky Stream in terms of flexibility is that the Puck box can only be used with an active Sky TV subscription, and that extends to Sky Glass as well - with many of the features restricted if customers cancel the Sky TV plan.

This now also applies to Flex however, since the recent introduction of a £5 monthly fee to cover the cost of the additional channels added onto the platform.

Virgin Flex's downside is that, unlike Sky TV, it's only available to customers who also take Virgin Media broadband, and that means living within a network enabled area too.

Sky Stream, on the other hand, can be taken as a standalone service and is available nationwide, which adds to the flexibility as customers can have any broadband provider as long as their download speed is at least 25Mbps, or 30Mbps for watching Ultra HD content or having more than one Stream Puck box in the house.

Overall, Virgin Flex is more flexible in terms of price and for those on a budget, yet, Sky Stream is more accessible being available nationwide and not tied to a broadband plan.

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Content

Winner: Sky Stream TV comes with 150 live channels as well as Netflix Basic, it also supports more on-demand apps than Virgin Stream.

Sky Stream offers a comprehensive TV service much more in line with their previous Sky Q platform, while Virgin Stream offers more on-demand style access to select channels.

This means that while Virgin Flex has the majority of channels most customers are looking for, Sky Stream has more content overall.

Sky Stream comes with 150 live channels in the Ultimate TV plan as standard, as well as a subscription to Netflix Standard with Ads and Discovery+ Basic. Sky also has more exclusive content with a large number of Sky Originals programming shown only on Sky Atlantic, which isn't available on Virgin Media unless customers pay to rent them through the Virgin Media Store, which can be expensive.

The Sky Stream Puck box also has slightly wider app support for additional on-demand subscriptions than the Virgin Stream box, including additional apps like Discovery+, Hayu, Spotify, and Peloton.

Entertainment

Sky Entertainment comes as standard with Sky Ultimate TV, and includes exclusive channels like Sky Atlantic.

For Virgin Flex, customers have to subscribe to the Essentials Entertainment pack, which includes 25 channels including Sky Max, Sky Showcase, Comedy Central, Discovery, Eurosport, and Sky Sports Mix.

Here is how they look side-by-side:

Both Sky Stream and Virgin Flex include their entertainment, documentary and sports channels in full 1080p HD, but customers with Sky also get Netflix included too.

Virgin Flex includes the following channels, which are also available on Sky Ultimate TV:

Sky Ultimate TV has more channels overall than Virgin Flex, including:

Both Sky Stream and Virgin Flex customers can also access Freeview through the set-top box, and Virgin Flex customers also gain access to additional F.A.S.T. channels including through free-to-air apps like Rakuten and Pluto TV.

Ultimately, while Virgin Flex has a good range of entertainment content, Sky has more premium channels overall, slightly wider support for on-demand apps, and also bundles in a Netflix Standard with Ads subscription worth £4.99 per month.

Cinema

Sky Stream and Virgin Flex customers can both add the Sky Cinema pack, which includes all 11 Sky Cinema channels in full 1080p HD.

Sky TV customers also get an additional Sky Premiere +1 channel, as well as a free subscription to Paramount+ worth £6.99, and two free Vue cinema tickets every month.

The prices listed above are for Sky Stream with Sky Cinema on a 24-month contract, but customers can choose a more flexible 31-day plan for a few pound extra.

Sports

The Sky Sports pack is available on both Sky Stream and Virgin Flex, and customers of either provider get access to all 9 Sky Sports channels in full 1080p HD.

Where the providers differ on Sky Sports is that Virgin Flex customers have to also add the Entertainment Essentials pack to watch Sky Sports News or Sky Sports Mix, and Sky Sports Racing isn't available.

Both Sky Stream and Virgin Flex customers can also access Sky Sports Ultra HD content by adding the Ultra HD or Sky Sports UHD pack for an extra £6 or £7 per month respectively.

TNT Sports is also available to add on both Sky Stream and Virgin Flex, with the channel pack cheaper with Virgin:

Virgin Flex includes all four TNT Sports channels in HD plus the TNT Sports Ultimate channel in 4K Ultra HD.

Sky Stream, on the other hand, only includes the four main TNT Sports channels, with customers having to take the Ultra HD pack to also watch TNT Sports Ultimate. However, customers do gain free access to Discovery+ Premium with the TNT Sports pack on Sky, which isn't available on Virgin Media.

Whether Sky Stream or Virgin Flex is best for sports will come down to what sports and fixtures a customer wants to watch. Virgin Flex is cheaper for TNT Sports, but Sky Stream is cheaper for Sky Sports unless customers don't want any entertainment channels.

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TV box

Winner: Sky Stream Puck box supports more third-party on-demand apps than Virgin Stream Box.

The Sky Stream Puck box and Virgin Stream Box are reasonably similar devices. Both offer an online streaming-based TV platform over WiFi and support viewing resolution up to Ultra HD 4K.

Neither box has any offline storage for programmes, with customers only able to 'store' programmes they want to watch later in the cloud.

There are some differences however that mark Sky's Stream Puck box as the better device. Sky Stream offers wider support for on-demand apps, and also supports the latest WiFi 6 protocol, for faster speeds where customers also have a WiFi 6 enabled router, like the Sky Max Hub (or ironically, the Virgin Hub 5).

Here is how Sky and Virgin look side-by-side for on-demand app support on their Stream boxes:

Each box supports a few other apps than these listed above, but these are the main ones customers may be looking for.

For a detailed list of supported apps, see our main reviews of Sky Stream Puck and Virgin Stream Box.

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Broadband bundles

Winner: Sky broadband has wider availability than Virgin Media broadband and better discounts for bundling, although both providers offer competitive deals.

Sky Stream customers can take Sky TV as a standalone deal, or they can choose to bundle it with Sky broadband for extra savings.

On the other hand, Virgin Flex is exclusively available to Virgin Media broadband customers, so households will need to live within a Virgin Media enabled area to benefit.

Here's two of the best deals available from Sky and Virgin for bundles including their streaming TV service:

Sky offer a range of full fibre broadband deals with speeds up to 900Mbps on average which rival the speeds of Virgin Media. Sky also offer a similar whole home WiFi guarantee to help customers experience faster speeds around the home.

For those who live within a Virgin Media area however, their deals often offer better value for money, with faster speeds for less, than through Openreach resellers, so Virgin Media could be an easy decision to make.

It's also possible for Virgin Media broadband customers to sign up to Sky Stream, however, they will miss out on the discounts available for bundling Sky Stream with Sky broadband, which can be substantial.

Overall, Sky and Virgin Media are fairly close in terms of broadband deals, and availability is likely to be a household's main deciding factor, although Sky's discounts for bundling are attractive.

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Verdict: Sky Stream or Virgin Flex?

Overall winner: It's close, but Sky Stream offers more premium content than Virgin Flex, with the same flexibility on offer and extra features included for free.

Virgin Flex is a great TV option for Virgin Media broadband customers who want a low-cost and highly-flexible way to access more free content and premium content when they want it.

Sky Stream, on the other hand, is a more comprehensive TV plan, with a wider range of inclusive live TV channels and more options to expand on that content. Sky TV customers also benefit from free included extras such as Netflix, Discovery+ Basic, and then Paramount+ with Sky Cinema and Discovery+ Premium with TNT Sports, helping to boost the content and viewing options even more.

Sky customers can opt to benefit from the same levels of flexibility as Virgin Flex, with 31-day rolling terms available on both the main service and on any channel packs if they're willing to pay a little extra for it.

They also now offer a slimmed down version of Sky TV, called Sky Essential TV, which includes the most popular Sky Atlantic channel with all of the same additional packs available from just £15 per month. This actually does well to create a closer like-for-like rival plan to Virgin Flex.

It's also the case that, while customers can save more by bundling, Sky Stream is arguably more accessible than Virgin Flex as it can be taken as a standalone service, with nationwide availability.

Customers who do live in a Virgin Media area however, who only want to access a few channels on-demand, will find the Virgin Flex service hard to beat on price.