Short answer: the best licensed no-contract TV subscriptions in the UK are NOW for Sky's channels (Entertainment from £4.99, Sports £34.99 a month or £14.99 a day), HBO Max for HBO and TNT Sports (£30.99 a month for TNT), and Sky Stream's 31-day plan if you want a proper box and guide (from £18 a month). You pay a few pounds more than on a long contract, but you can stop the month you stop watching, and that usually saves more than the discount.
At a glance
No-contract UK TV, October 2026
| Sky channels, no box | NOW, from £4.99/mo |
| Sky Sports, one day | NOW day pass, £14.99 |
| TNT Sports | HBO Max add-on, £30.99/mo |
| Full Sky box, rolling | Sky Stream 31-day, from £18/mo |
| 4K on NOW | Needs the Ultra Boost add-on |
| Notice to cancel | End of current month (Sky: 31 days) |
Every no-contract option, side by side
These are the licensed subscriptions you can start and stop monthly, with prices listed for new customers in early October 2026.
| Subscription | What you get | Monthly price | Shorter option |
|---|---|---|---|
| NOW Entertainment | Sky Atlantic, Sky Max, Sky Comedy and more, as an app | From £4.99 on 6 months; more on a flexible plan | None |
| NOW Cinema | Sky Cinema channels and library | From £9.99 | None |
| NOW Sports | All 12 Sky Sports channels | £34.99 | Day membership £14.99 |
| NOW Boost / Ultra Boost | Full HD and 5.1 / 4K, Dolby Atmos, more screens | Add-on to any membership | None |
| HBO Max | HBO series and films | £5.99 with ads, £9.99, £14.99 Premium | None |
| HBO Max + TNT Sports | TNT Sports channels plus HBO Max | £30.99 TNT alone; £36.98 with Standard with Ads | None (12-month saver is cheaper) |
| Sky Stream, 31-day | Sky box over Wi-Fi with live guide | Essential £18, Ultimate £27 | None |
| Sky Sports on Sky Stream, 31-day | Sky Sports added to the box | £35 on top | None |
For the 12- and 24-month equivalents, and what it costs to break them, see our UK provider contracts comparison.
NOW: the most flexible way to get Sky
NOW is Sky's own streaming service. It carries the same live channels as a Sky box, so Sky Atlantic dramas, Sky Cinema premieres and Sky Sports matches all arrive at the same time as on Sky. It runs as an app on most TVs, sticks, consoles and phones, and there's no credit check or installation.
Membership types are separate: Entertainment, Cinema and Sports. You can hold one or all of them, and each can be cancelled on its own. That's the real advantage over a box contract. Drop Sports in June and pick it up again for the new season, without touching anything else.
The details that catch people out:
- The cheapest Entertainment price needs a six-month commitment. The flexible monthly price is higher, at about £7.99 when we checked.
- Standard NOW is HD-ready, not Full HD. Boost adds Full HD, Dolby Digital 5.1 and a second screen; Ultra Boost adds 4K and Dolby Atmos and a third screen. For football on a big TV, Boost is worth it.
- Day memberships are a single 24-hour window. At £14.99, two in a month already cost close to a full month of Sports, so they suit one-off events.
TNT Sports: monthly through HBO Max
Since 26 March 2026, TNT Sports streams in the UK through HBO Max rather than discovery+. The add-on costs £30.99 a month on its own, or £36.98 with HBO Max Standard with Ads. A 12-month "saver" brings TNT down to £25.99 a month, but then you're committed for the year.
TNT is the home of Saturday 12.30 Premier League matches and, for the 2026-27 season, the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League. It also has Premiership Rugby, MotoGP and a lot of boxing and cycling. If all you want is the Champions League, note that from 2027-28 most games move to Paramount+ and Amazon Prime Video, so don't lock in a 12-month TNT plan for European football that ends next summer.
On the Premium plan, sport can stream on two devices at once, in 4K where it's available.
Sky Stream on a 31-day plan
If the household wants a remote, a channel guide and recordings rather than juggling apps, Sky Stream's rolling plan is the option. It's a small box that runs over Wi-Fi with no dish, and the 31-day versions cost £3 a month more than the 24-month ones: Essential £18, Ultimate £27, and Sky Sports a further £35.
Two things to check at checkout: if a one-off set-up charge applies to the rolling plan, and if your broadband manages about 25Mbps, which Sky recommends. Sky asks for 31 days' notice to cancel.
How to rotate subscriptions through the year
The point of going without contracts is to pay only in the months you watch. A simple calendar for a sports-and-drama household might look like this:
| Months | Keep | Drop |
|---|---|---|
| August to May | NOW Sports, TNT on HBO Max | Nothing |
| June and July (no World Cup or Euros) | NOW Entertainment for summer dramas | NOW Sports, TNT |
| Major summer tournament years | Free BBC and ITV coverage | Paid sports |
| Quiet months | One drama service at a time | The rest |
Dropping Sky Sports and TNT for June and July alone saves about £130 compared with keeping both all year. The habit that makes this work is setting a calendar reminder on the renewal date, since every one of these services renews automatically. For the general approach, see monthly versus annual subscriptions.
Three common setups, costed
The drama watcher. Free TV through Freely or Freeview, plus NOW Entertainment on its six-month price. About £5 a month, or roughly £8 if you want to be able to cancel any month. Add HBO Max with ads at £5.99 for the HBO back catalogue.
The Premier League fan who watches most weekends. NOW Sports with Boost, plus TNT on HBO Max, from August to May. Around £66 a month before Boost, for ten months, then nothing in summer. Over a year that's roughly £660, against about £890 for the same channels kept on Sky Stream for twelve months on 24-month pricing.
The big-match-only viewer. A NOW Sports day pass for each match you care about. Six passes a season is £89.94, about two and a half months of a full membership. Champions League nights need TNT, which has no day pass, so this approach suits Sky's games best.
Whichever you choose, the device matters less than you'd think: NOW and HBO Max run on Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, Google TV, recent Samsung and LG TVs, PlayStation and Xbox. Our household-by-household guide covers the box-based options too.
How to cancel each one
- NOW: sign in on the NOW website, go to My Account, then Memberships, and cancel the membership you no longer want. It runs to the end of the period you've paid for.
- HBO Max: account settings, then subscription. Monthly plans stop at the end of the billing month; the 12-month saver runs to the end of its term.
- Sky Stream 31-day: phone or online chat with 31 days' notice, then return the box.
- App store billing: if you signed up through Apple, Google or Amazon, cancel in that store's subscriptions page instead, because the service itself can't see the payment.
Our guide to pausing, cancelling or switching an IPTV subscription covers the general steps on each device.
Why the £10-a-month "IPTV subscriptions" aren't comparable
The pages ranking for this search mostly promote sellers offering 1-, 6- and 12-month "IPTV subscriptions" at around £10, £37 and £55, with every Sky Sports, TNT and international channel included. That is roughly one-tenth of the legal cost of the sport alone, because the seller isn't paying the rights holders. They often push the 12-month plan hardest, which is exactly the plan you lose when the service disappears. There is no Ofcom or app-store protection, and buyers in the UK have received warning letters. If you've been offered one, our guide to IPTV red flags is worth five minutes.
The licensed options above aren't as cheap, but a NOW Entertainment membership plus a free Freely or Freeview setup still costs well under £10 a month for most of what people actually watch.
Quick answers
What is the best no-contract TV subscription in the UK? NOW for Sky channels, because each membership is monthly and can be cancelled separately. Add TNT Sports through HBO Max if you need it, or choose Sky Stream on its 31-day plan if you want a box with a channel guide.
Can I get Sky Sports without a contract? Yes. NOW Sports costs £34.99 a month or £14.99 for a single day, and Sky Sports on Sky Stream's 31-day plan costs £35 a month on top of the TV package.
How much is TNT Sports a month in the UK? £30.99 a month through HBO Max on a monthly plan, or £25.99 a month on a 12-month saver, as listed in October 2026.
Does NOW show Sky Sports in 4K? Only with the Ultra Boost add-on, which adds 4K and Dolby Atmos where available. Standard NOW streams in HD, and Boost adds Full HD.
Is Sky Stream available without a contract? Yes. Sky offers 31-day rolling versions of its TV packages on Sky Stream, at about £3 a month more than the 24-month price.
Do I need a TV licence for NOW or HBO Max? You need a TV licence if you watch live TV on any service, including live channels on NOW or live TNT Sports on HBO Max. On-demand viewing only does not need one, unless it is BBC iPlayer.
Is a 12-month subscription better value than monthly? Only if you would keep the service all year. Dropping sports for two summer months usually wipes out most of the saving from a 12-month plan.
Prices and plan names are as listed by NOW, HBO Max and Sky in early October 2026. Membership options and add-on prices change often, so check before you subscribe. Checked October 2026.