When we think of Sky, the parable and the classic decoder immediately come to mind, to be placed in the living room to be able to see all the contents offered by this platform. Many users, however, do not activate Sky just for the annoyance of having to place a parabola on the roof or balcony, to which are added some limits set at the contract level (the mandatory years of constraint and the vexatious clauses included in the classic subscription).
But if we told you that it is possible to see Sky without a parabola and with a much more flexible subscription "> Better Netflix or Sky NowTV? Differences between offers and costs of the best movie sites
1) What is Now TV
Now TV is the service offered by Sky for all users who do not want to subscribe to the classic subscription with satellite dish and decoder (for users with satellite dish and decoder another reserved On-demand platform is available, namely SkyGo) and want to see the contents legal streams via the Internet.
Now TV offers a large variety of On-demand content; for those who do not know this term, just know that it is possible to see and review the best programs already seen on satellite as if they were simple videos, with the possibility of pausing, going back and forth and interrupting the vision at any time, without disconnections advertising.
In addition to the On-demand content, you can also see the live broadcasts of some of the channels visible on the satellite platform : the number of available channels is not high (otherwise it would be ruthless competition to the satellite platform!) But all the most viewed channels are present and it is You can watch most successful programs broadcast on Sky.
The channels currently available on Now TV are as follows.
Cinema
- Sky Cinema Uno
- Sky Cinema Family
- Sky Cinema Comedy
- Sky Cinema Max
- Sky Cinema Cult
- Sky Cinema Classics
Entertainment and TV series
- Sky One
- Sky TG 24
- Fox Life
- H
- Nat Geo Wild
- MTV
- Fox
- Fox Crime
- Sky Atlantic
Children and boys
- Disney Junior
- Disney Channel
- Fox Animation
- NickJr.
Sport
- Eurosport 1
- Eurosport 2
- SkySport 24
- SkySport 1
- SkySport 2
- SkySport 3
- SkySport Plus
- SkySport F1
- FoxSports
- SkySuperCalcio
- SkyCalcio (12 channels)
The list is not bad and allows you to enjoy the best of Sky's satellite platform without using a satellite dish, but by connecting to the Internet and watching streaming content .
We can see all the channels supported by Now TV here -> Channels available on Now TV .
2) Subscription to Now TV
All the channels that we have presented above can be viewed by subscribing to one of the available subscriptions, called Tickets.
Each ticket guarantees access to the dedicated channels to which it refers, and in order to view all Now TV channels we will have to subscribe to all available tickets; obviously it is up to the user to personalize the offer and pay only for the channels and contents in which he is interested.
The tickets do not include any type of constraint and can be managed as if they were a simple rechargeable: every month Now TV will charge the cost of the activated Ticket (or Tickets) and if we no longer want to see a ticket, simply cancel it, without further explanation or constraints.
We can change tickets, reactivate and deactivate them at any time, so as to customize the offer according to the needs of the moment (if for example in that month we want to see only TV series, we can request only that ticket and then deactivate it to switch to the dedicated ticket to movies or sports).
The tickets currently available on Now TV are:
- Cinema Ticket
- Entertainment Ticket
- TV Series Ticket
- Sports Ticket
The following prices are available for Cinema, Entertainment and TV Series Tickets:
- 1 Ticket of your choice for 9.99 € / month
- 2 Tickets of your choice for € 14.99 / month
- All 3 tickets € 19.99 / month
If, on the other hand, we want to attend live sporting events, the Sport Ticket can be activated (together with the other tickets or even alone) with the following prices:
- 1-day Sport Pass Ticket: € 6.99
- 7-day Sport Pass Ticket: € 10.99
- Monthly Sport Pass Ticket: € 29.99
To see all the channels offered by Now TV, you will have to pay € 49.98 every month, but as we have already mentioned, it is possible to customize the offer according to personal needs or the needs of the family so as to spend much less (the the only really expensive package is the monthly one dedicated to sport, the others have affordable prices).
In any case it is possible to try the service for free for 14 days then decide whether to keep and pay for the chosen tickets; with some promotions (as for example with the Now TV Box) we can get 2 months of viewing some tickets for free (in HD and without renewal), alternatively we can focus on one of the promotions of the partners (such as Fastweb) that offer 4 months of free view or a discount on the cost of the Internet subscription if we subscribe Now TV.
Tickets can be purchased by credit card, rechargeable debit card (such as Postepay or PayPal card) or directly using a PayPal account.
To subscribe to the service and choose a ticket, we can use the link here -> Now TV .
Alternatively, we can subscribe to Now TV with some special offers from mobile operators, listed on the partner page.
Among these are Vodafone, Fastweb, Playstation, Xbox and others.
3) How to watch Now TV
We can use the Now TV service on the following devices: Smart TV (dedicated app), PC, tablet, smartphone, iPhone, iPad, Sony PlayStation 4, Microsoft Xbox One, Vodafone TV, Chromecast and the TV box dedicated to the service (called Now TV Box ).
As you can see compatible devices are numerous, it is difficult not to find a system to watch Now TV wherever you want; if you only have a PC, just use a web browser to view the contents and channels.
Currently Now TV allows viewing on one device at a time and allows you to manage up to a maximum of 4 devices on the same account (always with the viewing limit limited to a single device at a time), in addition it transmits at a standard display quality (480p).
Combining the tickets with the Plus package (€ 2.99 per month additional) we will unlock HD resolution (only for some enabled devices) and we will be able to see the contents of Now TV on two devices simultaneously.
HD-enabled devices are:
- Chromecast
- Now TV Box
- Sony PlayStation 4
- Microsoft Xbox One
- Vodafone TV
- App for Smart TV
It is not possible to see in HD from smartphones, tablets and PCs even by purchasing the Plus package.
In order to view all Now TV contents correctly without jerks, freezes or slowdowns, an Internet connection with at least 3 Megabits per second is required for download (standard quality channels); for HD channels at least 8 Megabits per second are required for download.
4) What is the Now TV Box
One of the simplest and most immediate methods to try Now TV is to buy the TV Box branded by the service, that is Now TV Box .
This small device (based on the TV Box Roku 2) allows you to view the content and channels of Now TV live on any TV or monitor with an HDMI port, even in high resolution.
Simple to install, it offers the Now TV app as a reference for viewing content (there is also the dedicated button on the remote control) but it also offers other interesting apps, to be used to make every TV without Smart functionality truly multimedia.
The additional apps currently available are: Spotify, YouTube, Vimeo, VEVO, the Roku Media Player (compatible with DLNA) and RedBullTV, plus a few minor apps on news and entertainment.
It is not possible to add other apps from a Store or via APK (being based on Android): Sky chooses the apps to add to the firmware and makes them available through updates.
To use the TV Box, simply connect it to the home WiFi network (also with 5GHz network, since it is dual band) or via Ethernet cable to the LAN socket, enter the access credentials to your Now TV account and start using the content and apps offered.
The Now TV Box (Smart Stick) can be purchased at a cost of € 19.99 (without ticket) or € 29.99 (with a free ticket for 2 or 3 months) from one of the following e-commerce sites:
- Now TV site
- Amazon
- Unieuro
- MediaWorld
We can also find it in the physical stores of the aforementioned chains, so that you can also buy it during a normal shopping session.
5) Personal experience
As the owner of the Now TV service and the branded TV box, here are my considerations on the quality of this service.
As the owner of other on-demand subscriptions (Netflix and Mediaset Premium Play) I do not appreciate the choice to charge the HD separately, as well as the limit in the display of the devices (should I pay separately to see on 2 devices?).
Despite everything, the quality of the streaming is very good, even on not particularly brilliant connections (however, try to respect the minimum requirements otherwise the channels will be "cubed" and jerky).
Even at standard quality the transmitted signal is of higher quality than the channels transmitted on digital terrestrial, which demonstrates the goodness of the Sky service from the point of view of visual quality.
Enabling HD it is difficult to see the difference compared to the signal transmitted via satellite, the quality is really excellent!
Nothing to complain about the audio, definitely good in particular on live channels (it still transmits Stereo audio, supporting DTS and Dolby only as passthrough on compatible TV).
The prices are in line with the competition, and ticket management is really very convenient (Netflix has made school!).
The only real limitation of Now TV is on the optimization of the streaming flow for live channels (direct): if we use the service on Chromecast, on the web browser or on other devices, we could run into a buffering problem that cannot be solved even with the 1000 Mega line!
On average every 10-15 minutes the audio and video flow stops for a second, and then resumes without problems: a really frustrating problem!
The only way to get around the problem is to use the Now TV Box, completely immune to the buffering problem: this therefore excludes problems from the servers but shows a lack of optimization on some of the supported devices.
To be able to watch Now TV without any problem and appreciate the 100% service, I recommend trying the service in combination with the branded TV Box, only in this way will we obtain total compatibility and we will be able to watch all the channels live for hours without interruption.
