Guest blog by Aled
Soon to start the frustrating process of moving, I made the discovery that the place I was moving to would be unable to support a satellite service such as Sky. This put me at a bit of a quandary, as a few years ago I would have happily waited for the programs and TV series I enjoyed to arrive on a ‘free to air’ platform or perhaps just gone out and bought the DVD – the problem for any movie and TV fan nowadays are spoilers. These are normally provided courtesy of an online world filled with trending topics such as #thewalkingdead, advertisements on websites and click bait news articles with bold headlines designed for the sole purpose of drawing eyes away from the things you actually want to look at. It’s frustratingly easy for the internet to ruin a major event of a story (I completely avoided the internet from the day that Star Wars: Force Awakens came out until the day I watched it). So I had to look into a way to get around this. Already familiar with Netflix, as good as it was, I wanted a way of getting access to the latest in entertainment and this is where NOW TV came in. The service is operated by Sky, so like Sky it distributes a lot of high quality programming but requires no dish or aerial, only a broadband internet connection. Offering multiple options to dip in and out of content, the service was very easy to setup and access.
NOW TV can be accessed through a variety of devices including games consoles such as the Xbox One and PS4, IOS devices such as iPhones, iPads and Android devices or simply straight through a computer. If you don’t happen to own these devices or would like a more TV orientated way of accessing the service, NOW TV offer their very own box for connecting to your existing TV. The box itself is nice and compact so doesn’t take up much space. It comes with pretty much everything it needs to get up and running, right out of the box (service is also available on certain LG smart TVs and Roku products). In total four devices can be registered with your NOW TV account, with up to two devices being used simultaneously.
Setup is done in two stages. First is making an account through the NOW TV website. The site is well designed and sign up is easy from making an account and password to adding a bank card. Once done you can then pick and choose what services you would like from them. When a TV series you enjoy starts you can use the entertainment pass. This lets you access major channels like FOX and Sky Atlantic. Should you wish to view a few movies, simply choose to activate the movies pass and finally should you want to watch some sport, just use the sports pass. Monthly passes will automatically renew but unlike Sky none of these passes are contracted so can be canceled at any time, just as easily as restarting (I found this happened frequently with the sports pass but this is quite possibly linked to the performance of Chelsea this year). Below is a little breakdown of the channels that each pass allows access to:
• Movies pass: 11 live channels from Sky movies Family, Drama & Romance, Sci Fi & horror, Disney, Premiere, Select, Crime & Thriller, Comedy, Greats, Action & Adventure and Showcase. 1000+ movies on demand. Cost of pass is £9.99 a month.
• Entertainment pass: Sky Atlantic, Sky 1, Fox, Gold, Sky Living, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, MTV, ITV Encore, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr, ABC, Sky Arts. Cost of pass is £6.99 a month.
• Sports pass: Sky sports channels 1-5, Sky sports F1, and Sky sports news HQ. Cost of pass varies depending on time frame. £6.99 will allow you access for 24 hours, £10.99 will give you 7 days and £31.99 will grant you a month.
An excellent way to find out what the service is like to use is the 14 day trials of the entertainment and movie passes that NOW TV offer. This is a good way to sample the content and the service. Better still the passes are independent from one another, the movies and entertainment can be trialled separately if you are up and running with NOW TV.
Once you’ve setup your account, the second step is setting up your NOW TV device which is primarily just adding your account to an app or a NOW TV box.
The Now TV boxes can also be purchased bundled with the pass of your choice. These little boxes are the perfect partner for accessing the service and also providing a platform offering over 50 additional apps showcasing a full range of catch up services, alongside apps such as Facebook and Spotify.
So there you have it. Perhaps you just bought a new TV and want to get more out of it? Maybe you want a new and improved selection of content but without a contract? It could also be that you would love to enjoy watching Sky Sports for only the periods your favorite sport or team are on, Sky Movies over the Christmas holidays with the family is also a great use. Regardless of the reason, its price point and flexibility make NOW TV (both as a box and a service) a fantastic alternative to Sky itself and a true competitor in the world of entertainment.
To view our range of NOW TV products click here or visit your local store today.
