Price:
Content:
Features:
Flexibility:
Sky Essential TV launched in December 2024 as an alternative, cheaper, way to subscribe to Sky's new satellite dish-free service, Stream.
Essential TV provides access to exclusive Sky Originals programming on Sky Atlantic, as well as a subscription to Netflix and Discovery+ Basic, including live Discovery channels.
Customers can also access over 100 live free-to-air channels on the Sky TV guide, and personalise their viewing with programmes on third-party apps accessible through Playlist.
At a glance
| Monthly price | £15 |
|---|---|
| Setup cost | Free (worth £39.95) |
| Minimum term | 24-months or 31-days |
| TV channels | 100+ live channels, inc. Sky Atlantic, Discovery suite and Freeview |
| Channel packs | Sky Sports, Sky Cinema, Sky Kids, TNT Sports |
| On-demand apps | Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Paramount+, Discovery+, Apple TV+, YouTube, Spotify, Hayu, BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4, My5, and more |
| TV box | Sky Stream Puck |
| Requirements | 25Mbps minimum broadband speed (30Mbps for Ultra HD) |
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Budget-friendly way to access Sky Stream and Sky Atlantic | Playlist recordings not indefinite |
| Includes Discovery+ Basic and live channels | Ad-skipping costs an extra £5 per month |
| Freeview channels available without a TV aerial or satellite dish | |
| Flexible contract-free options on both the main service and channel packs |
| Package | TV | Monthly price | Upfront price | Contract term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Sky Essential TV | 100 | £15 | Free | 24 months |
| Offer: Free setup (worth £39.95) | |||||
Who is Sky Essential TV best suited for?
Launched in December 2024, Sky Essential TV has opened up the new Sky Stream platform to more households by reducing the cost to just £15 per month.
It's best suited to households who want to watch Sky Originals programming on Sky Atlantic, but who don't want to subscribe to any other Sky Entertainment channels.
While Sky Essential TV includes over 100 live TV channels, including the Discovery suite and free-to-air channels from Freeview, it keeps costs low by reducing the channel count by 42, dropping names like Sky Max, Sky Showcase, National Geographic and Comedy Central.
One of the best ways to enjoy Sky Essential TV however, is for those who want a lower cost way to access premium content from Sky Sports or Sky Cinema, and even on a flexible monthly basis.
Overall, Sky's new Essential TV plan is best suited to people who:
- Want to watch Sky Originals on Sky Atlantic
- Want to watch Netflix and Discovery+, which are included at no extra cost
- Want a low-cost way to subscribe to premium content on Sky Sports or Sky Cinema, even on a flexible monthly contract
- Want a smart TV box to access a wide-range of on-demand apps including Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Paramount+, Apple TV+, Hayu, and many others
- Have a decent broadband connection with at least 25Mbps download speeds
- Don't have a satellite dish or TV aerial and want to watch Freeview
Ultimately Sky Essential TV lowers the entry price point for Sky TV, bringing the monthly cost down to just £15 per month, but also bundling Sky Atlantic, Netflix and Discovery+ Basic in that, making it great value for money.
Households on a budget will also benefit from the flexible monthly contract options too, with the full service, as well as additional channel packs, available on either 24-month or 31-day terms.
What does Sky Essential TV offer?
Sky Essential TV is now Sky's cheapest TV plan and offers customers a way to watch over 100 live TV channels, including the exclusive and popular Sky Atlantic.
While many of Sky Entertainment channels are missing to reduce the monthly cost, customers still get access to all live Discovery channels and on-demand content, including Animal Planet, Discovery, Really, TLC and Quest.
The Sky Stream Puck box also provides access to Freeview content, and customers don't even need a TV aerial as everything is streamed over the broadband connection.
Sky Essential TV currently costs just £15 per month on a 24-month contract, or customers can opt for more flexibility by paying a little more for a 31-day rolling term:
| Package | TV | Monthly price | Upfront price | Contract term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Sky Essential TV | 100 | £15 | Free | 24 months |
| Offer: Free setup (worth £39.95) | |||||
|
|
Sky Essential TV: 31-days | 100 | £18 | Free | 1 month |
| Offer: Free setup (worth £39.95) + Flexible 31-day contract | |||||
Both of these plans come with the Sky Stream Puck box included, and there is no setup fee to pay.
In addition to Freeview over broadband, Sky Atlantic and Discovery suite of channels, customers can also add more content by subscription to on-demand apps.
Sky Stream Puck has some of the widest app support in the pay TV market, and allows customers to stream subscriptions from Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Paramount+, Discovery+, Apple TV+, and Hayu.
It's also possible to watch catch-up through BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4 and My5 apps too.
Plus, one of the major selling points for Sky Essential TV is the ability to add premium channel packs like Sky Sports, Sky Cinema, Sky Kids and TNT Sports at the same competitive pricing as on the standard Sky TV plan.
What is on Sky Essential TV?
We've looked at what's included in Sky Essential TV above, but let's take a closer look at the content available to watch.
Sky Essential TV includes over 100 live TV channels and some of these are premium channels, while most are free-to-air channels from Freeview.
Live TV channels include:
| Sky Atlantic | Sky Arts | Sky Mix | Animal Planet | BLAZE |
| Challenge | U&Dave | Discovery | Discovery Turbo | Discovery History |
| Discovery Science | DMAX | U&Drama | U&Eden | Food Network |
| GREAT! tv | GREAT! romance | GREAT! movies | GREAT! action | HGTV |
| ID | LEGEND | LEGEND XTRA | PBS America | Quest |
| Quest Red | Really | S4/C | TLC | Together TV |
| TRUE CRIME | TRUE CRIME XTRA | U&W | U&YESTERDAY | BBC One |
| BBC Two | BBC Three | BBC Four | BBC ALBA | BBC Scotland |
| ITV1/STV/UTV | ITV2 | ITV3 | ITV4 | ITVBe |
| Channel 4/S4C | E4 | E4 Extra | Film4 | More4 |
| 4seven | Channel 5 | 5ACTION | 5SELECT | 5STAR |
| 5 USA | ||||
| CBBC | Cbeebies | POP | POP Max | Tiny Pop |
| BBC News | BBC Parliament | Aaj Tak | Bloomberg | CNBC |
| CNN International | Euronews | France 24 | GB News | Geo News |
| NDTV World | Sky News UK | Sky News Arabia | ||
| Sky Sports Mix | Sky Sports News | Sky Sports Racing | ||
| Clubland TV | NOW 70s | NOW 80s | NOW 90s | NOW ROCK |
| QVC | QVC Style | QVC Beauty | QVC Extra | |
| Music India | Geo TV | HUM Masala | HUM Europe | PTC Punjabi |
Sky Atlantic is probably the most popular channel available with Sky Essential TV, but customers also benefit from premium content through Discovery, with channels including Discovery, Discovery History, Animal Planet, Really, Quest and TLC.
Sky has also increased the channels available since launching Sky Stream in October 2022, with more kids shows including POP, POP Max and Tiny POP added in 2023, and customers also now able to subscribe to MUTV and LFTV if they want to as well.
It's possible to customise Sky Essential TV by adding subscriptions to premium channel packs like Sky Sports, Sky Cinema, TNT Sports and Sky Kids, although there's no way to add any of the missing Sky Entertainment channels without simply upgrading to Sky Ultimate TV.
The pricing of the premium channel packs is the same however:
| 24-months | 31-days | |
|---|---|---|
| Sky Sports | £20 (was £28) | £27 (was £30) |
| Sky Cinema | £10 (was £13) | £13 (was £16) |
| Sky Kids | - | £6 (was £7) |
| TNT Sports | - | £28 (was £30) |
| Netflix Standard upgrade | - | £5 (was £6) |
| Netflix Premium upgrade | - | £10 (was £11) |
Sky Essential TV (as with Sky Ultimate TV) includes Netflix Standard with Ads, worth £5.99 per month, but customers can upgrade within the Sky interface for integrated billing on both Standard and Premium Netflix plans at a reduced cost, if say, you want to avoid any adverts or watch in Ultra HD.
This Sky Essential TV plan is also one of the cheapest ways to watch Sky Sports and Sky Cinema with or without broadband bundled. While Sky further discount TNT Sports when taken with Sky Sports, those who only want to watch TNT Sports will find it cheaper with either Virgin Media or BT where it costs from just £18 per month to add.
It's also possible to access any of the other Sky TV add-ons on Essential TV for the same prices too, including:
| 31-days | Includes | |
|---|---|---|
| Ultra HD & Dolby Atmos | £6 | Boosts some content to Ultra HD resolution with Dolby Atmos sound |
| Ad-skipping | £4 (was £5) | Skip ads on Playlist, On Demand and live content you've paused or restarted, including ITVX, STV Player, Channel 4 and My5 apps |
| Whole Home | £12 (was £13) | Allows streaming in more than one room with one additional Puck included and extra available for £39.95 each |
For even more content, Sky Essential TV customers can access the same array of third-party on-demand apps, with Netflix and Discovery+ Basic included as standard, and Paramount+ bundled with Sky Cinema.
Sky Essential TV customers can also watch content from any of the below apps, although additional subscriptions may be required for some of these:
| Netflix | Prime Video | Disney+ | Paramount+ | Discovery+ |
| Apple TV+ | Amazon Music | Spotify | YouTube | RadioPlayer |
| BBC iPlayer | ITVX | C4 | My5 | STV Player |
| BBC Sounds | Crunchyroll | Fiit | Global Player | GolfPass |
| Hayu | MVmnt | Play.Works | Sky Kids Games | Sky Sports+ |
| U | Xumo |
Sky Stream Puck box
Sky Essential TV comes with one Sky Stream Puck box included, which can be setup simply by connecting it to your home router, mains power supply, and TV set via the HDMI cable included.
For connecting to broadband, the Puck box supports WiFi 6 (802.11ac) and can be connected wirelessly, or customers can connect via the included Ethernet LAN cable to an available port on the router.
While it's possible to get discounts when bundling Sky broadband with Sky Essential TV, it's not a requirement, and so, as long as a home broadband line delivers download speeds of at least 25Mbps, it will support Sky Stream.
The Stream Puck box supports Ultra HD viewing, up to 3840 x 2160 pixels at 50 frames per second. Although, without the Ultra HD pack from Sky, most content will be streamed in 1080p HD as standard.
Here are the main specifications of the Stream Puck box:
| Sky Puck box | |
|---|---|
| Size | 10.8 x 10.8 x 1.8 |
| Resolution | 3840 x 2160 at 50 frames per second |
| Sound | Dolby Atmos |
| WiFi | 802.11ax (WiFi 6) |
| Ethernet LAN | 100Mb |
| HDMI | 2.1 |
For customers who want to watch in more than one room, there's a couple of ways to do this.
It's possible to subscribe to the Whole Home add-on for an extra £12 per month, which allows all subscribed content to be streamed in additional rooms and includes one extra Puck box, with additional boxes available for £39.95 each as a one-off cost.
However, for those on a budget, it's also possible to watch subscribed content on the Sky Go app, which is available for iOS, Android, Fire, Windows and Mac devices, as well as the PlayStation 4 and 5 and Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X consoles.
So, for anyone with a games console this is an easy way to freely add Sky TV to an extra room, while it's also possible to watch content on smartphones, tablets and computers.
Verdict: Is Sky Essential TV any good?
It's almost surprising it look Sky so long to release this plan, as it fills a gap of bringing Sky TV and premium Sky content into homes at a slightly more appetising price.
Sky Atlantic is one of Sky's most popular channels, and has been the home of big-name programmes like Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon for several years, so it's pleasing to see Sky grant access for households who may not want all the additional content that usually comes with a Sky TV package.
It's also pleasing that all premium content, like Sky Sports and Sky Cinema, is available at the same competitive prices, and customers can also add more content through a range of on-demand apps, including Disney+, Apple TV+, and Paramount+. So, nothing is really lost here apart from the other Sky Entertainment channels now offered with Sky Ultimate TV.
For many homes, Sky Atlantic and Netflix are the main boxes we look to check when looking for a TV subscription, so Sky will no doubt gain customers with their more budget-friendly Essential TV plan.
Read more in our hands-on review of Sky Stream or compare Sky TV prices here.
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