Sky UK and NOW TV Users to Get Free Access to New Max Streaming Service in 2026
Sky (Sky Broadband etc.) has this afternoon announced that they’ve signed an expanded partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery in the UK and Ireland, which means that existing Sky TV and NOW TV customers (e.g. Sky Glass, Sky Stream) will gain free (non-exclusive) access to the new ad-supported streaming service (app), Max (HBO Max), when it launches in 2026.
The deal means that Sky’s existing agreement has been extended until “early 2026“, with the new Max service set to become available “at no extra cost” after that. Max will exclusively feature new HBO Original and Max Original shows and more when it launches in the UK and Ireland.
Existing franchises and their future series will continue on the Sky Atlantic channel for Sky customers, with pay 1 movies to be shown on Sky Cinema. For example, Sky customers will find shows such as House of the Dragon, The White Lotus, and The Last of Us, and any new series aired “before the end of 2025“, on Sky Atlantic and through Sky’s On Demand service.
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However, newer series, such as the forthcoming exclusive series of Harry Potter, will only be available via Max.
Dana Strong, Sky Group CEO, said:
“This deal builds on our remarkable achievements this year. We have secured most major sports rights through to the end of the decade, extended our content partnerships, and progressed our transition from satellite to IP, with 9 out 10 new customers choosing Sky Glass or Sky Stream. This partnership solidifies Sky as the ultimate TV destination and the preferred partner of choice for streamers, rights holders and content creators alike.”
Max first launched (as HBO Max) in the USA during May 2020, but it’s slowly spreading out to more countries and today’s deal tells us when we can expect to see it in the UK. On the other hand, if there’s one thing the market doesn’t need right now, it’s yet more confusion around the ever-increasing level of content fragmentation between multiple different streaming services.
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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“In addition, NOW UK and Ireland Entertainment members will also receive bundled access to the ad-supported version of Max, seamlessly integrated into the NOW experience alongside other premium content.”
Fair enough but what about Boost. Will that get rid of the ads on “Max” or will that require an additional payment? If it does this seems like a downgrade.
Finally HBO Max without VPN.
Why are 9/10 new customers choosing IP streaming without the ability to FF/jump ads and all the other inconsistencies without local recordings?
So all Sky customers get Max UK (when it releases) and WBD start putting new content on Max rather than Sky.
It’s not a surprising deal. WBD becomes far less dependent on Sky, and Sky doesn’t completely lose a major licensing deal.
Maybe their stream service will be fit for purpose by then because it certainly isn’t at the moment
Agree. Full of bugs, limitations on number of favourites to low 99 (btw, favourites is how you can renumber channels to your own preference but only 99 of them!). Also some channels not encoded properly as lazy 1080i to 1080p25 resulting in juddery motion because of temporal motion loss.
Even with WIFI always on, if your router has scheduled times for WIFI being on or off, the Stream box can’t cope and every start-up of the day you find yourself in network settings trying to re-establish the link.
Oh, and the hardware is damn slow and clunky, and you cant remove the apps installed that Sky deem you must have!
Not another streaming service …. I have Netflix as it’s bundled with my Sky package and they chuck in Discovery + and Paramount + but you end up forgetting which programme is on what network. I liked Sky years ago when everything was in one place …. plus my Samsung Smart TV will only allow about 15 streaming apps and then the internal memory is full
Sky is on borrowed time… life-support – call it what you will. This new deal proves it. ALL future content will be Max (Warner Bros) exclusive. NOT exclusive to sky anymore. Which is what it’s been since – like – forever.
I already have MAX Platinum for Argentina for £30 a year. I don’t think I’ll bother thanks Sky.
Annoying how sky is digital now meaning that we can’t skil ads. Even got to pay for ultra HD.
I Think i’ll stick with my firestick
IPTV is known for its one minute delay where Haaland scores a goal but your phone pings a minute early. Wonder what Sky’s latency is like.
This article might give you an idea.
https://www.techradar.com/streaming/sky-tv/what-is-sky-sports-live-sync-the-new-low-latency-sports-streaming-feature-explained