Dan Howdle | July 26th, 2024
Sky Stream is slowly eating into the decades-long dominance of satellite as the primary means to receive Sky TV. Receiving Sky TV over the internet is just less fuss, less mess, far easier to install, will take up less space wherever you watch TV, and you won't need a (some would say) ugly satellite dish on the side of your home.
But Sky being Sky, it is less than clear about exactly what you get with Sky Stream. The channels you get, the channels you don't get and what, if anything, is missing when compared alongside Sky TV via a satellite dish (Sky Q). The truth is, Sky Stream is the future, and it does a heck of a lot very well and maybe one or two things not too well. Let's take a closer look at what you get.
Here's a big picture overview of Sky Stream Entertainment:
Feature | Sky Stream |
---|---|
TV channels | 140+ |
On-demand content | 30,000+ TV shows |
Contract length | 18 months, 30-day rolling |
Prices from | £20 per month |
You will notice in this overview there is two ways to get Sky Stream, one is Sky Stream, the other is Sky Glass, where instead of a Sky Stream Puck, you'll get an actual 4K television, which will have Sky Stream built in. Note that due to the high cost to Sky of providing you with a TV in the case of Sky Glass, contracts are 48 months – an astonishing four years! So think carefully about whether that's something you actually need.
So as not to present you with a wall of channel names, and because when people want to know what's included they'll tend to be checking if you are going to get one or maybe two specific channels, we've separated our Sky Stream Entertainment channels list into multiple sections to make the ones that are important to you easier to find.
This list comprises all of the Sky-branded, in-house channels you'll get with Sky Stream Entertainment:
Sky Arts | Sky Atlantic | Sky Challenge | Sky Comedy |
Sky Crime | Sky Documentaries | Sky History | Sky History 2 |
Sky Max | Sky Nature | Sky Replay | Sky Sci-Fi |
Sky Showcase | Sky Sports Mix | Sky Sports News | Sky Sports Racing |
Sky Witness |
This is just a small selection of our deals. See our comparison to compare the latest Sky Stream deals and offers.
This list comprises all of the traditional terrestrial channels and their variants that you'll get with Sky Stream Entertainment:
BBC One | BBC Two | BBC Three | BBC Four |
BBC ALBA | BBC News | BBC Parliament | BBC Scotland |
CBBC | CBeebies | BBC One Northern Ireland | BBC One Scotland |
BBC One Wales | BBC One Channel Islands | BBC One East | BBC One East Midlands |
BBC One London | BBC One North East & Cumbria | BBC One North West | BBC One East Yorks & Lincs |
BBC One South | BBC One South East | BBC One South West | BBC One West |
BBC One West Midlands | BBC One Yorkshire | RTÉ One | RTÉ Two |
RTÉ Junior | ITV1/STV/UTV | ITV2 | ITV3 |
ITV4 | ITVBe | CiTV | Channel 4 |
E4 | E4 Extra | Film4 | More4 |
4seven | 4Music | Channel 5 | 5ACTION |
5SELECT | 5STAR | 5 USA |
Our friendly Sky experts are here to help you. We're open Monday to Sunday 8am-8pm.
Call now on 0333 210 1128This list comprises entertainment channels that aren't traditionally served via terrestrial television, many or which are 'Freeview' channels:
alibi | Animal Planet | BLAZE | CBS Reality |
Challenge | Comedy Central | Comedy Xtra | Crime + Investigation |
Dave | Discovery | Discovery Turbo | Discovery History |
Discovery Science | DMAX | Drama | E! Entertainment |
Eden | Eurosport 1 | Eurosport 2 | Food Network |
Ginx eSports TV | GOLD | GREAT! tv | GREAT! romance |
GREAT! movies | GREAT! action | HGTV | HorrorXtra |
ID | LEGEND | Movies24 | Movies24+ |
National Geographic | National Geographic Wild | PBS America | Pick |
Quest | Quest Red | Really | RealityXtra |
Sky Replay | Smithsonian | S4/C | TLC |
Together TV | W | YESTERDAY |
This list comprises all the music-dedicated channels you will receive with Sky Stream Entertainment:
B4U Music | Kerrang! | KISS | Magic |
MTV | MTV Music | MTV Hits | MTV 80s |
MTV 90s | The Box | 4Music |
This list comprises all kids-focused channels you will receive as standard on Sky Stream Entertainment:
CBBC | CBeebies | CiTV | RTÉ Junior |
POP | Tiny POP | POP Max |
This short list comprises the shopping channels you will receive as part of a subscription to Sky Stream Entertainment:
QVC HD | QVC Style HD | QVC Beauty HD | QVC Extra HD |
This list comprises all international and Asian channels you'll get with Sky Stream Entertainment as standard:
B4U Movies | B4U Music | Colors | Colors Gujarati |
Colors Rishtey | FoodXP | Geo News | Geo TV |
HUM Masala | HUM Europe | PTC Punjabi | Sky News Arabia |
Sony MAX | Sony MAX2 | Sony SAB | Sony TV |
Utsav Bharat | Utsav Gold | Utsav Plus | Zee Cinema |
Zee TV | Cúla4 (Irish Gaelic) | Aaj Tak |
Please note that Sky regularly swaps out the odd channel here and there. New channels appear a few times a year, and some disappear. These lists were correct at the time of writing (September 2023), but to view any recent updates or changes, you can visit Sky's website where it has regularly updated list of what's in and what's out. Also note that in the following list you may see some channels listed twice, as they fit the description of more than one heading. Again, this is simply so that you can easily find the channels you're looking for.
The basic 'Entertainment' channel package from Sky, either via Sky Stream or Sky Glass (both the same apart from the hardware) should be viewed as the beginning or base layer of what you can actually subscribe to. On top of that, Sky makes available a number of channel packs you can bolt on at extra cost to suit your needs. Let's take a look at those.
If you choose to add on the Sky Kids pack, you'll additionally receive the following channels:
BabyTV | Boomerang | Cartoonito | Cartoon Network |
Nick Jr. | Nick Jr. Too | Nickelodeon | Nicktoons |
Sky Kids |
TNT Sports (until very recently called BT Sport), is one of the more expensive add-ons for Sky Stream. Sport is expensive, there's no way around hit. Here are the channels you get if you subscribe via Sky Stream or Sky Glass:
TNT Sports 1 | TNT Sports 2 | TNT Sports 3 | TNT Sports 4 |
TNT Ultimate |
If you add on Sky Sports – which again won't be cheap – you'll get every Sky Sports channel. So:
Sky Sports Arena | Sky Sports Cricket | Sky Sports F1 | Sky Sports Football |
Sky Sports Golf | Sky Sports Main Event | Sky Sports Main Event Ultra HDR | Sky Sports NFL |
Sky Sports Premier League |
If you choose to add on the Sky Cinema pack to your Sky Stream subscription, you'll additionally receive all Sky Cinema channels:
Sky Action | Sky Animation | Sky Comedy | Sky Drama |
Sky Family | Sky Greats | Sky Hits | Sky Premiere |
Sky Sci-Fi Horror | Sky Select | Sky Thriller |
Yes. Sky Stream will still provide you access to pay-per-view via:
Sky Sports Box Office | TNT Sports Box Office |
Despite providing most of what you'll be able to see on Sky Q (Sky's old satellite service), Sky Stream won't provide you access to a number of channels.
With everything on catch-up, one might argue that there is simply no need for +1 channels on Sky's new digital streamning service, and likewise no need to record your own shows. Neither Sky Glass nor Sky Stream allow you to record your favourite shows onto the device, instead providing a 'Playlist' feature with which you can mark the shows you want to watch later, and then stream them at your convenience. Truth is there is simply no need for +1 channels on Sky Stream, because rewinding live TV by an hour or more is something you can do yourself with the remote.
Most of those that are missing won't bother anyone. They're either small, niche or both. However, there are some notable omissions. For example, you won't be able to get any channels that require an additional subscription specifically to said channel. So, for now, you won't be able to watch MUTV, LFCTV, BoxNation and so on.
Here's a complete list of channels you won't be able to watch on Sky Stream Entertainment, which include many sport, religious, shopping, and international channels. Adult channels are also not available on Sky Stream or Sky Glass for now, but we won't list those here:
BoxNation | FreeSports | LaLiga TV | LFCTV |
MUTV | Viaplay Sports 1 | Viaplay Sports 2 | Racing TV |
SportStuff | Movies | ROK | TalkingPictures |
TCM | 92 News | A1TV | – |
Aastha | Ahlebait TV | Ahlulbayt TV | Akaal Channel |
ARY Digital | ATN Bangla UK | Brit Asia TV | British Muslim |
Channel 44 | CHSTV | ColorsCineplex | Deen TV |
Dunya News | Eman Channel | Hidayat TV | ImamHussein3 |
iON TV | IQRA Bangla | IQRA TV | Iran International HD |
Islam Channel | Islam Channel Urdu | Islam TV | Kanshi TV |
Madani Channel | MATV National | MTA1 World | NEO News |
New Vision TV | Noor TV | NTV | PCNE Chinese |
Pitaara | Politics Punjab | PTV Global | Sangat |
Sanskar | Sikh Channel | Siraj TV | Takbeer TV |
TV One | Al Jazeera | Arirang TV HD | Arise News |
Channels 24 | NHZ World | RTE News | TRT World |
TVC News | WION HD | DAYSTAR HD | Dunamis TV |
EWTN Catholic | Faith UK | Faith World TV | GOD Channel |
Good News TV | Inspiration TV | KICC TV | LoveWorld HD |
New Media HD | Revelation | SonLife | TBN UK |
Word Network | Best Direct | Craft Extra (now called Shop Extra) | Create&CraftHD |
Cruise1st.tv | Direct Store TV | Gems TV | High Street TV 1 |
High Street TV 2 | High Street TV 3 | High Street TV 4 | HobbyMaker |
Ideal Extra (channel closed) | Ideal World HD (channel closed) | JewelleryMaker | JML Direct |
Shop Extra (previously Craft Extra) | Thane | TJC | TJC Beauty |
TV Warehouse |
Of course, live channels are not the only game in town when you subscribe to Sky Stream. You'll get the Entertainment channels we've outlined in this guide, sure. But Sky will also bundle in both a Netflix subscription, and access to Sky Box Sets, where Sky dumps a lot of its best shows for you to watch whenever you like.
Despite the lengthy lists in this guide, no. No, we're not going to list out every show you can watch on Sky Box Sets. Not only would the list be longer than China's Great Wall, the content changes daily, meaning any list we could formulate would be quickly out of date.
Suffice it to say that you will find most of Sky's best historic shows from all of its Sky-branded entertainment channels, including Sky Atlantic. And that means a lot of HBO and Sky Original stuff, such as Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, Succession and many, many more.
In total, you'll find around 500 shows sitting, complete, ready for you to binge at any time. Just bear in mind that shows do get swapped in and out frequently when it comes to availability. So, for example, you may be able to watch House of the Dragon season one on Box Sets right now, but then it may disappear for a month before reappearing again.
The main things you need to know about Netflix on Sky Stream or on Sky Glass are as follows: