Sky Sports has been a byword for top quality sports broadcasting in the UK for more than 35 years. Launching in 1991 as just a single channel, it’s now a twelve-station behemoth that hosts some of the most unmissable action from within the British Isles and around the planet.
Most significantly, perhaps, its story has been intimately entwined with that of the English Premier League since the latter’s own inception in 1992. Sky Sports has held the lion’s share of the coverage of the EPL – dubbed by many as the world’s most entertaining soccer league – for all that time and, for the four seasons from 2025, will show no less than 215 games in each. For context, that’s more than 50% of all matches and a number that dwarfs the 52 games to be shown on TNT Sports.
Name a sport and Sky Sports is likely to be one of the UK’s key broadcasters. It shows all of England’s home Test cricket matches, for example. It’s the exclusive rights holder to all four golf majors and Ryder Cup, carries US action from the NFL and NBA, and has live coverage of every F1 Grand Prix each year.
As well watching on your television, all of Sky Sports’ coverage is also available to take around in your pocket and bag thanks to the company’s Sky Go app for mobiles, tablets, laptops and other streaming devices. Try streaming outside of the British Isles, however, and you’ll soon be prevented from doing so. That’s where downloading one of the best VPN services becomes your digital MVP – keep reading to discover why…
How to watch Sky Sports subscriptions
Subscribing to Sky Sports isn’t exactly what you’d call cheap. To be fair, that’s understandable once you account for the sheer amount of top class sporting coverage it provides.
If you don’t already have a Sky TV plan of any description, you’re looking at an outlay of £35 per month at the very least. That gets you access to all nine premium Sky Sports channels alongside the 100+ channels of Sky Essential TV and a basic Netflix subscription.
From there, you can then add additional channels and services to suit your tastes. To include TNT Sports, for example, you’ll pay an extra £25 a month, while film fans can get Sky Cinema for an additional tenner. And for those that demand the best picture and sound quality possible, a further £6 a month adds UHD and Dolby Atmos.
You can sign up and tailor your Sky Sports plan here.
Already subscribe to Sky but don’t have Sports? Adding the channels to what you already have costs between £20 and £25 per month, with prices changing frequently.
Note: all prices above are correct at the time of publish.
What channels does Sky Sports include?
- Sky Sports Main Event
- Sky Sports Premier League
- Sky Sports Football
- Sky Sports Cricket
- Sky Sports F1
- Sky Sports Golf
- Sky Sports Tennis
- Sky Sports Action
- Sky Sports+
Sky Sports Mix, Sky Sports News and Sky Sports Racing are three further channels, but these are all available as part of a bog standard Sky Tv plan.
Use a VPN to watch Sky Sports from anywhere
Why is a VPN a good option to watch Sky Sports from anywhere?
Once you’ve subscribed to Sky Sports and downloaded the Sky Go app or client, you’ll be able to watch all the football, cricket, golf and other action it shows.
That is, at least, until you head abroad on holiday or business. Fire up Sky Go while in the US, Canada, Australia, Europe or anywhere else, and you’ll face a disheartening message: “Your Sky content cannot currently be viewed in this country.“
Thankfully, you can overcome this hurdle by using one of the best streaming VPNs. The cybersecurity software doubles up as a way to watch online content when overseas and works a treat with Sky Go to access your Sky Sports subscription.
What devices and platforms are supported by Sky Go and NordVPN?
Amazon Fire TV
Android (7.0 and up)
Android TV (5.1 and up)
Apple TV (tvOS 13 and up)
Desktop app (Windows, Mac, Chromebook)
iOS (13 and up)
Although you can’t run NordVPN directly on other devices, such as PlayStation and Xbox consoles, an easy workaround is running NordVPN on your smartphone or computer and setting up a hotspot.
Are there any other ways to watch Sky Sports?
If you’re tempted by the sheer output of Sky Sports but feel put off by the service’s lengthy contracts and high monthly price, you could instead consider going for a Now Sports Membership.
Now Sports carries all Sky Sports channels, just with a greater variety of payment options and without having to sign up to other Sky TV content. At the time of writing, you could sign up to 24 hours of Now Sports for £14.99 – ideal if there’s just one event that you were hoping to check out.
Flexible monthly plans cost from £34.99, with the possibility of making savings if you sign up for an annual plan instead.
What sports can you watch on Sky Sports?
Listing every single sport here that the nine premium channels of Sky Sports show could have you scrolling for hours. But below is a summary of the goods on offer to subscribers…
The 215 Premier League games that Sky Sports shows are just the tip of a very deep iceberg when it comes to its soccer coverage.
Sky’s current deal with the EFL sees it broadcasting more than 1,000 matches per season between the Championship, League 1 and League 2, as well as all play-off games. And, for the EFL Cup, it now streams every single game.
Still in the UK, there’s the Women’s Super League, Scottish Premiership and NIFL from Northern Ireland. And for those who like their soccer continental, Sky Sports has Bundesliga coverage up to 2029.
Cricket
The dedicated Sky Cricket channel is well populated throughout the year, with international, domestic and franchise action over the 12 months.
All of England’s home Tests, ODIs and T20Is are on Sky, which is likely to include the 2027 Ashes. Most overseas tours also tend to go out on Sky Sports, although it’s worth noting that TNT Sports has started challenging on that front. Its international stronghold also means every single men’s and women’s ICC World Cup event until 2031.
Domestically, there’s action from the County Championship, One Day Cup, T20 Blast and every match of The Hundred.
If you follow short-form white ball cricket around the planet, you can also use your Sky Sports subscription to watch every single wicket and six from the Indian Premier League (IPL), Carribean Premier League (CPL), Pakistan Premier League (PSL) and Lanka Premier League.
Golf
All four of golf’s majors each year – the Open Championship, Masters, US Open and PGA Championship – form the backbone of a portfolio that includes 32 PGA Tour and 32 European Tour events annually.
The Women’s British Open is also shown by Sky. And, every two years, Sky Sports goes all out on its exclusive Ryder Cup live coverage.
Motor Sports
Sky Sports shows every practice, qualifying session, Sprint race and Grand Prix of the F1 season (even the British GP, which is also shown for free on Channel 4 in the UK).
The broadcaster also has rights to Formula 2 and Formula 3, in addition to several IndyCar events from North America each year such as the Indy 500.
Rugby Union & League
Although it doesn’t have much in the way of domestic rugby union from the UK, Sky Sports is the place to watch British and Irish Lions tours, the Rugby Championship and other selected international rugby, including August and September’s Greatest Rivalry.
Rugby League lovers get their fill of 100+ Super League matches per season, together with live coverage of the World Club Challenge.
Tennis
While all ATP Masters 1000, 500 & 250 and WTA 1000, 500 and 250 events are shown by Sky Sports, the only Grand Slam it currently shows is the US Open.
Darts
All the biggest PDC darts tournaments are shown on Sky Sports, including the annual extravaganza that is the World Darts Championship from Alexandra Palace.
The Grand Slam of Darts, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, World Cup of Darts and Premier League Darts action are all comprised within Sky Sports’ rights holding.
American Sports
Sky Sports has really leaned into what the Brits call ‘American Football’. It shows a vast number of NFL games each week of the regular season and playoffs. Naturally, that includes the Super Bowl (which is also shown on free-to-air TV in the UK).
It’s also the exclusive rights holder of NBA basketball coverage in the UK, with its current contract going right on through until 2030.
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We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
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