If you’re looking for a new TV sports package, there are plenty of providers to choose from. Sky is still king when it comes to sport on TV across the board, but if it’s football you’re after specifically, BT Sport is also top notch, with its coverage of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League, as well as select Premier League matches.
Sky Sports comes with eight exclusive channels: Main Event HD, Premier League HD, Golf HD, Football HD, Cricket HD, Formula 1 HD, NFL, Action and Arena. Sky Sports News and Sky Sports Mix are available to all Sky TV customers as part of its base package at no extra charge.
Sky TV customers can add Sky Sports as a bolt-on, but it doesn’t automatically come with HD or UHD. If you want your football in crystal-sharp definition, you will also have to pay for the HD and/or UHD bolt-on (and you will also need an HD/UHD TV).
When it comes to sports other than football, Sky offers channels dedicated entirely to golf, cricket, and Formula 1, with coverage of everything from American NFL to rugby on its new merged channel: Sky Sports Action and Sky Sports Arena.
As well as Premier League football, Sky also shows rugby, with the Six Nations, the Rugby World Cup and the Gallagher Premiership, and golf fans get access to the European tour, the PGA tour, the Masters Open, the US Open, the Ryder Cup and PGA Championships. It’s an essential for Formula 1 fans, with every Grand Prix covered on Sky Sports F1.
Sky customers can also choose to bolt on BT Sport to their Sky package. It’s worth knowing that the Sky Sports bolt-on comes on an 18-month contract, whereas BT Sport is only for 31 days, so if you want to cancel it at short notice, you can. However, you can also sign up to a joint bundle of Sky Sports and BT Sport, which works out slightly cheaper than bolting on the two sports packages separately.
BT offers both BT Sport and Sky Sports as add-ons to its TV offering. Customers can choose to add either BT Sport on its own, or what it refers to as Big Sport, which includes BT Sport, Sky Sports and Eurosport in one bundle. Both BT Sport and Big Sport come on 24-month contracts, so a considerable commitment is required.
BT Sport offers a lot of sports coverage that is not available on Sky Sport, including the UEFA Champions League and the Europa League, and is also an essential for rugby fans, with the European Champions Cup, the European Challenge Cup and the Premiership. Cricket fans won’t want to miss the Ashes.
If you want to make sure you catch all the action, then you might want to sign up for both BT Sport and Sky Sports. Happily there are several ways to do this, depending on which provider you want to have.
BT, Sky and Virgin Media all offer both BT Sport and Sky Sports to their customers, albeit at a pretty hefty cost. TalkTalk customers can access Sky Sports by signing up for the NOW TV Sports Membership or by signing up for BT’s Big Sport package (which comes with both Sky Sports and BT Sports), which is accessible either via the BT web player or via the BT Sport app.
Virgin offers both Sky Sports and BT Sport to customers, but the structure is a bit different to Sky as Virgin still offers a range of bundles, although it is also possible to have sport as a rolling monthly bolt-on.
Virgin’s top package, the Ultimate Volt Bundle, comes with both Sky Sports and BT Sport in HD/UHD. If you don’t want to spend so much, you can choose the Bigger Bundle + Sports, which comes with Sky Sports in standard definition and BT Sport in HD/UHD. If you want Sky Sports in HD as well, it will cost you an extra £7 per month. This also applies if you decide to add sport as a rolling monthly bolt-on.
If BT Sport and Sky Sports still isn’t enough, Virgin Media customers can also choose to sign up for Premier Sports 1 and 2, La Liga TV and BoxNation for an extra monthly fee.
Customers just looking for just a bit extra when it comes to sport might be interested in the Big Bundle + Sport Lite, which comes with Sky Sports News, Sky Sports Mix and Eurosport.
If you don’t want the commitment of signing up for Sky Sports for 18 months, then NOW TV is the way to go. You get access to all the Sky Sports channels and have the option to sign up for one month or one day. If you want to watch in full HD, you will also have to sign up for NOW TV Boost for an extra fiver a month.
If you sign up for the monthly membership, it will roll on each month unless you decide to cancel it. Alternatively, the Sports Day membership gives you access to all the channels for 24 hours and eight months of Mobile Membership, which enables you to watch five Sky Sports channels including Premier League on your phone.
If you want to watch BT Sport via NOW TV, this is unfortunately not an option. However, you can choose to sign up to BT Sport separately and watch via the BT Sport app with the BT Sport Monthly Pass. This gives access to all BT Sport channels, including BT Sport Ultimate, and can be cancelled at any time.