Now TV to launch monthly sports pass to coincide with start of Premier League – The Guardian

Now TV, Sky’s dish-free online streaming service, will launch a new monthly sports pass later this month aimed at cricket and football fans who don’t want to take out a subscription.

The Sky Sports Month pass will cost £31.99 and will launch to coincide with the football Premier League.

Now TV, Sky’s riposte to on-demand streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon and targeted at Freeview homes, will also launch a next generation box in August.

The expanded sports offering goes beyond the current day and weekly passes on Now TV, costing £6.99 and £10.99 respectively. Now TV also does entertainment, movies and sports packages.

Stephen van Rooyen, Sky’s chief marketing and digital officer, said Now TV’s customer base was “complementary, not at odds, with the Sky TV service” and had “established real momentum since it launched nearly three years ago”.

Van Rooyen told a conference in London on Thursday that more than 90% of Now TV customers had never considered Sky before signing up.

The new Now TV box will include an ethernet port to support a wired as well as wireless connection and a processor that is five times faster. It will also have an “improved search function”.