Sky UK TV and NOW TV Customers Can Now Get HBO Max Basic with Ads
As expected, Sky (Sky Broadband, Sky TV etc.) and NOW TV have today followed up on last month’s announcement, which revealed their plans for combining Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max and Hayu into a single subscription (here), by confirming that customers on eligible subscriptions can now get access to the HBO Max streaming service.
Just to recap. The change means that the HBO Max Basic with Ads plan (normally £4.99 a month) will be included in the Sky TV subscription for millions of eligible customers. Existing NOW Entertainment members will also be able to watch it “at no extra cost and seamlessly integrated into the NOW app, in a new NOW Entertainment & HBO Max membership“.
New customers can thus get Sky, HBO Max, Disney+, Netflix and Hayu (the latter is coming in July) together as part of their Sky Ultimate TV package from £24 a month. In addition, they can also combine Ultimate TV with Full Fibre 300 broadband for just £41 per month (currently reduced to £39).
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Existing customer eligibility:
- Sky Stream and Sky Glass customers with Sky Ultimate TV will get Disney+ Standard with Ads, HBO Max Basic With Ads and Hayu content added to their pack alongside Sky TV and Netflix.
- Sky Q customers with Sky Signature, Sky Entertainment and other eligible packages will get Disney+ Standard with Ads, HBO Max Basic With Ads and Hayu content added to their pack alongside Sky TV. Sky Q customers with Sky Ultimate TV get all of these plus Netflix.
- Sky+ customers will have access to HBO Max Basic With Ads content and Hayu content alongside Sky TV.
- Disney+ Standard and Disney+ Premium customers can move their existing plans to Sky and save £5.99 a month on their bill.
- Eligible customers with Disney+ and HBO Max access can upgrade their subscription plan if they would like, with the cost of Disney+ Standard with Ads and HBO Max Basic With Ads deducted from the cost of the higher tier subscription.
Eligible customers who wish to sign-up can select the HBO Max app from the Sky TV homepage, or use the “HBO Max” voice command and follow the on-screen steps. Sky+ customers can also watch shows and movies with HBO Max Basic with Ads from their Sky homepage, available to browse and watch on-demand.
Sky Atlantic will still remain the place to find upcoming seasons of much-loved HBO shows, such as Euphoria, House of the Dragon and The Last of Us, alongside the HBO Max app. Sky Cinema customers will also continue to get new Warner Bros. movies such as One Battle After Another and Superman, alongside films from Sky, Paramount, and NBCUniversal etc.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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I did not see this mentioned in the article so wanted to add that for NowTV customers that also pay for Boost (4K) and Ad-Free then HBO Max is also the comparable to HBO Max Premium subscription (so HBO Max will be streamed in 4K and ad-free when watched through the NowTV app).
For Now TV can confirm boost is working with HBO Max content removing ads and boosting picture quality. There also seems to be a catalogue of films available without needing the Sky Cinema add-on. This deal adds a lot of value to Now TV Entertainment, IMO!
Waste of money. Shows and Films Repeat, repeat, repeat!
Repeats seems to be the norm everywhere, normal TV, Sky and online services. That was the reason I got rid of Sky many years ago.
If someone have Sky and want these other services if it saves them money by combining then yes go for it.
I did have Now Tv a few years ago, got the box and a good deal in an Argos Black Friday sale. I think I kept it for the same amount of time I kept my sky subscription, 12 months.
Things have changed these days, I find linier TV old hat, waiting around for something to be shown before I can watch it, I prefer the on-demand way I watch things these days. With sport, it is different, but even then I watch F1 after the race.
If sky is a waste of money, for me, it would be, I do think people spend a lot of money on sky subscription and no doubt watch a tiny percentage of what is available on it. I have Prime video and ITVX and I don;t watch everythgin from them
Just for a nose, I had a look at sky and put eveything in, sports, movies, TNT sport, skip ads, kids TV, entertaibnment eveything apart from Dolby/4K and broadband. It came to £88 a month and that could still increase in the 24 month contract.
£88 a month? People must be crazy, but it is up to them at the end of the day.
I cut down on what I had in subscription because of the cost, I certaionly would not pay £88 a month, even if I was a millionaire.
I got a web link through Now TV customer support and linked my Now account to HBO Max. I noticed that the film Interstellar is available in the HBO app but not Now as I don’t have Sky Cinema, but Tenet is available on both. Worth checking out, but there seems to be a lot of adverts on HBO Max so if you are ad free on Now it’s a bit painful.
£39 PM is a great value with everything bundled. Love this direction from Sky.
I’m a Sky+ customer and am being told we have to wait until 4 April to get HBO Max basic with ads on demand. Very misleading and unhelpful communications about this from Sky, and if you ring them different customer services agents tell you different things…
you have to demand ads?
Well this is kind of annoying. Looks like some previously ad-free Sky Atlantic content like The Sopranos is now locked behind HBO Max and contains ads. Great to finally be able to access content like The Pitt, though!
The battleground is hotting up. Virgin Media today added the HBO Max app to its 360 and Stream boxes, and from 1 April will belatedly get Sky Atlantic on the same boxes which benefits its customers with a Sky Entertainment package who can watch it on channel 111 at no extra cost. I think I am right in saying that with the addition of Sky Atlantic, VM will finally host the complete suite of major Sky-branded entertainment, cinema and sports channels.
A notable difference is Sky’s combining Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max and Hayu into a single subscription whilst for VM you have to pay separately (although Netflix and Disney+ can be signed up and billed via VM). There are pluses and minuses for both approaches. I suspect that in the short/medium term Sky will win as this big bundle will reduce churn but in the longer term as streaming becomes ever more fragmented VM’s more flexible approach will benefit.
The battle finished 10 years ago when Netflix annihilated legacy TV providers. As soon as HBO cut ties with Sky it’s game over for them.
Just had the email. Just signed up for the Now TV entertainment package at £3/month for 12 months so pretty good value really.
So if you get Sky Atlantic, why subscribe to HBO?
Sky Atlantic will only get the remaining episodes/seasons of shows it is already broadcasting. New series e.g. The Pitt will not be on Sky Atlantic. The channel doesn’t seem to have much of a future as it stands.
@James: Sky Atlantic, as well as being the primary home of Sky’s own content, is now acting as a showcase for HBO Max by making available a curated sample of Warner Bros. movies and Max Originals. So, if you want to watch more, head to the HBO Max app.