Should I cancel Sky Sports?

If you’re a big sports fan, chances are you’ve already got your calendar full of sports and games to watch for this month and even the rest of the year. But with so many different sports, channels and exclusives to choose from, you might be wondering which sports package is worth the money, especially with all the summer sporting events coming up.

Sky Sports is one of the most popular TV packages from Sky and is many people’s go-to TV plan to watch sports on. However, as the cost of living crisis is making a lot of us re-evaluate what we spend our money on, it could be worth cancelling your Sky Sports subscription and finding a cheaper sports plan elsewhere.

In this post, I’ll take you through everything you need to know about Sky Sports, including price, exclusives and competitors, and let you know whether you should cancel it or not.

If you’re interested in Sky packages, check out my guide on which Sky TV package offers the most value for more.

What is Sky Sports?

The Sky TV, Netflix & Sky Sports package is a popular TV plan that is packed full of sports channels that are all available in HD. The 11 Sky Sports channels you get are Sky Sports Main Event, Premier League, Football, Golf, Cricket, Racing, Formula 1, Arena, Action, News and Mix. There are thousands of live games and events you can watch throughout the day and all year round. Sky Sports also has dedicated TV shows and podcasts for each sport like Soccer AM, Goals on Sunday, The Cricket Debate, Inside The Huddle, The F1 Show and many more.

In addition to Sky Sports channels, this package includes regular Sky channels like Documentaries, Atlantic and Comedy, and Netflix content if you add your Netflix account on to your plan. The cost for the Sky Sports package is £46 a month for 18 months with a one-off setup fee for £20. Overall, if you use Sky Sports for the full 18-month contract period, you’ll be paying £828. For discounts and further information on the Sky Sports plan, check out our guide to the best Sky deals. 

Are there any Sky Sports exclusives?

The quick answer is yes! With almost every streaming platform or TV service, everyone wants more for their money so exclusives have become a huge part of decision making when people sign up to a specific plan. Just like how Netflix has its Originals, Sky also has exclusives for its regular channels, Cinema and Sports plans.

Sky Sports has exclusive rights to multiple sports competitions and coverage, including Premier League games, EFL, SPFL, England Home Test Cricket, RFU, Formula One, US Open, PGA Tour, and a number of UK and Ireland sports, including football, cricket, golf, darts and rugby league.

As I discussed above, Sky Sports commissions and creates its own sports-focused TV series and podcasts so viewers or listeners can stay up-to-date with their favourite sports. Sky Sports also has a wide range of presenters and pundits that present shows, commentate on events and host podcasts, including Gary Neville, Jamie Redknapp, Annabelle Croft, Chris Kamara, Alex Scott and many more athletes and commentators.

Does Sky Sports have any competitors?

While Sky Sports is arguably the most popular sporting TV plan available, it does have a strong competitor in BT Sport. Although BT Sport has fewer channels than Sky Sports, customers get access to BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2, BT Sport 3 and BT Sport ESPN channels. These channels have live coverage of Premier League and UEFA Champions League matches, Premiership Rugby, Red Bull events and cricket, boxing, hockey, baseball, WWE and basketball events. It’s cheaper than Sky Sports at £16 a month for 24 months (£384 in total) and has a one-off setup fee of £39.99. For more information on BT Sport, check out our Sky Sports vs BT Sport comparison guide.

BT Sport also gives you the option to sign up for a BT Sport Monthly Pass which is something that’s not offered by Sky Sports. The monthly pass means you can sign up for one month to watch BT Sport at a one-off cost of £25. If you’re trying to save money but still want to watch a specific sporting competition, a monthly pass from BT is a great shout as it gives you access to all BT Sport channels and games for 30 days without locking you into a contract.

Something similar to this pass from BT is NOW TV. NOW TV is owned by Sky, so you can watch all Sky channels with a NOW TV Sports plan. The monthly membership is £33.99 a month which is cheaper than Sky and is without a contract length. Alternatively, the day or mobile month plan is a one-off cost of £11.98 and either gives you access to Sky Sports for 24 hours or 3 months of mobile access to stream 5 Sky channels on your phone.

Verdict: Should I cancel Sky Sports?

So, we’ve come to the big decision: Should you cancel Sky Sports. As always, it completely depends on how much you watch Sports. For me, I do love the occasional rugby match but I don’t think I’d use it enough to justify spending £46 a month. But if you constantly flick to the sports channels, Sky Sports is definitely worth considering. It has an incredible range of channels, coverage and exclusives and if you’re a sports fan, it offers every sport and commentary you could possibly want. So in this case the answer is no: you shouldn’t cancel Sky Sports.

However, if you’re trying to cut back on your bills, save money on Sky TV or you’re not using Sky Sports to its full potential, it could be time to cancel. By downgrading to the basic Sky TV & Netflix plan, you can still watch sports on regular TV channels and you’ll only be paying £26 a month which is £20 cheaper. If you have a specific game or tournament that you want to watch, it’s a no-brainer to try out the sports passes from BT Sport or NOW TV.