Dan Howdle January 30th, 2025
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.
Sky has also recently split its TV offering into two package levels: Sky TV Ultimate and Sky TV Essentials, with Sky TV Ultimate comprising everything Sky Stream did prior to the split, and Sky TV Essentials representing a cheaper, more basic version with a cut-down channels list that still includes gems like Sky Atlantic, but misses out on Sky's wider entertainment channel selection.
First, let's take a look at the two Sky Stream package levels side-by-side.
Feature | Sky Stream Ultimate TV | Sky Stream Essentials TV |
---|---|---|
TV channels | 140+ | 100+ |
Contract length | 24 months, 30-day rolling | 24 months, 30-day rolling |
Sky Atlantic | Yes | Yes |
Sky Box Sets | Yes | No |
Other Sky Entertainment channels | Yes | No |
Prices from | £22 per month | £15 per month |
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 Ultimate TV 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 0330 221 9427This 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, 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.
You'll notice here that Sky Stream Essentials TV is a rather chopped down list. Important channels like Sky Atlantic are present and correct, while many other Sky Entertainment channels like Sky Max, Sky Comedy, Sky History and so on are MIA. Carefully consider what you get here before determining if it's worth the money saved plumping for the cheaper package.
This list comprises all of the Sky-branded, in-house channels you'll get with Sky Stream Essentials:
Sky Atlantic | Sky Arts | Sky Mix | Sky Sports News |
Sky Sports Racing | Sky Sports Mix | Sky News UK | Sky News Arabia |
This list comprises all of the traditional terrestrial channels and their variants that you'll get with Sky Stream Essentials:
BBC One | BBC Two | BBC Three | BBC Four |
ITV1/STV/UTV | Channel 4/S4C | Channel 5 | BBC ALBA |
BBC Scotland | BBC News | BBC Parliament | CBBC |
CBeebies | RTÉ One (NI only) | RTÉ Two (NI only) | RTÉ Junior (NI only) |
This list comprises entertainment channels that aren't traditionally served via terrestrial television:
Dave | W | Drama | Discovery |
TLC | Animal Planet | ID | Discovery Turbo |
Discovery History | Discovery Science | Quest | Really |
Quest Red | DMAX | HGTV | Food Network |
LEGEND | LEGEND XTRA | GREAT! tv | BLAZE |
PBS America | Together TV | Challenge | Yesterday |
Eden | TRUE CRIME | TRUE CRIME XTRA |
This list comprises movie and music channels included in Sky Stream Essentials:
Film4 | GREAT! movies | GREAT! action | GREAT! romance |
Clubland TV | NOW 70s | NOW 80s | NOW 90s |
NOW ROCK |
This list comprises shopping channels included in Sky Stream Essentials:
QVC | QVC Style | QVC Beauty | QVC Extra |
This list comprises international and news channels included in Sky Stream Essentials:
CNBC | Bloomberg | CNN International | GB News |
Euronews | NDTV World | France 24 | Music India |
Aaj Tak | HUM Masala | HUM Europe | Geo News |
Geo TV | PTC Punjabi |
The Ultimate and Essentials channels lists should be viewed as the beginning or base layer of what you can actually subscribe to. On top of both, 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 is one of the more expensive add-ons for Sky Stream. Sport is expensive, there's no way around it. Here are the channels you get if you subscribe via Sky Stream.
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 HD |
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 |
Sky has binned off a bunch of channels when it made the switch from Sky Q to Sky Stream. Fortunately, it's nothing most people will miss.
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. Sky Stream doesn't 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 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 depending on whether you choose Sky Stream Ultimate TV or Sky Stream Essentials TV, what you get in terms of on-demand content will differ.
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.
With Sky Stream Ultimate TV, you get full access to Sky Box Sets, which includes most of Sky’s best historic shows from all of its Sky-branded entertainment channels, including Sky Atlantic. That means a lot of HBO and Sky Original content, such as Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, Succession, and many more.
With Sky Stream Essentials TV, Sky Box Sets is not included, meaning you won't get access to this extensive on-demand library. You will still have access to some catch-up content through Sky Entertainment channels, but you won’t be able to binge-watch full series from Sky’s historic catalogue.
The main things you need to know about Netflix on Sky Stream depend on which package you choose:
Our Sky experts have access to special offers and can create a personalised package just for you. Give us a call!
Call 0330 221 9427We're available from 8am-8pm, Monday to Sunday