If you’re old enough to remember when the Premier League first came crashing on to our screens, it was quite a simple marketplace in terms of how you got to watch it. You needed Sky, and that meant a big satellite dish on the side of your house and a 12 month contract to get it. Only wanted to watch the football? That wasn’t an option, you had to have one of the packages Sky sold.
Time has moved on since then, and in part for the better but also in part for the worse. I’d personally argue the peak for the consumer was when Sky still held all the games but you could access them via Now TV, or Virgin Media, whichever suited you.
These days it is a lot more complex, and this season it has actually got simpler in one respect and more expensive in another. Let me explain both.
Who has actually got the games this season
For 2026/27 there are only two broadcasters showing live Premier League football.
- Sky Sports: 215 games, comfortably over half of the 380 played across the season
- TNT Sports: 52 games, including the Saturday 12:30 kickoffs
- Amazon Prime: none. Amazon didn’t renew its live Premier League rights this cycle, so the three way split that ran for a few seasons is now a two way split. It still shows a Champions League game most Tuesdays, but that’s a different competition, so it’s out of the rest of this piece.
- BBC Match of the Day: free highlights of all 380 games, on iPlayer and BBC One, if watching after the fact is enough for you
Season dates for reference, it runs from Friday 21 August 2026 to the final day on Sunday 30 May 2027, so just over nine months, or about 40 weeks. It’s another example of the subscription creep I wrote about here, one interest, football, now needs two separate subscriptions to follow properly, and that’s before you’ve thought about broadband, mobile or anything else you’re already paying for.
Getting Sky Sports (215 games)
Now, the flexible route
- Fully Flexible Sports Month Membership: £34.99 a month, cancel any time, the only Now plan that genuinely lets you skip the summer
- 12 Month Saver tiers (including the discounted £27.99 a month Sports+Boost plan): cheaper on paper, but locked for 12 months, then auto renews as the Fully Flexible plan at £34.99
- Sports Day Membership: £14.99 for 24 hours, fine for one match, poor value for two or more
- Cannot watch TNT Sports through the Now app at all
Worth doing the sums here before you’re tempted by the discount. Lock into the 12 month £27.99 rate and you’re paying £335.88 across the year, because you’re paying through the summer too. Stay on the fully flexible plan and pay only for the roughly nine months you’re actually watching, and it’s £325.41, cheaper, despite the higher headline monthly rate. The “saver” plan isn’t actually saving you anything once you factor in the months you don’t need.
Sky TV, the direct route
- Base package, Sky Ultimate TV: £24 a month, 24 month period, Sky states prices may change during that term
- Sky Sports, 24 month commitment: £20 a month, stepping up to £35 a month once the term ends
- Sky Sports, 31 day rolling: £27 a month, cancel whenever you like
That £7 a month gap looks like a straightforward premium for flexibility, and on paper it is, but work it through and it nearly disappears. The 24 month deal costs £240 a year for the Sky Sports element, whatever the time of year. The rolling deal, cancelled through the roughly three month close season, costs £243 a year, just £3 more, for the ability to walk away at 31 days’ notice instead of being tied in for two years. If you already have Sky TV, I’d take the rolling option every time. If you’re starting completely from scratch though, Now is still cheaper overall, £34.99 all in beats £24 plus £27 through Sky, the rolling add on only makes sense once you’re already a Sky customer.
Virgin Media
- Cheapest package including Sky Sports: from £52.99 a month, rising to £56.99 from your April 2027 bill and £60.99 from April 2028, 24 month contract
- This is a full broadband and TV bundle, not a standalone add on, so only worth it if you’d be getting Virgin broadband anyway
Getting TNT Sports (52 games)
HBO Max, direct
- TNT Sports standalone, rolling: £30.99 a month, cancel any time
- TNT Sports standalone, 12 month saver: £25.99 a month, but locked for the year
- Standard with Ads & TNT Sports: £36.98 rolling, or £27.99 on the 12 month saver
- Standard & TNT Sports: £40.98 rolling, or £30.99 saver
- Premium & TNT Sports: £45.98 rolling, or £34.99 saver
Same trap as Now. The 12 month saver looks cheaper monthly, £311.88 across the year, but the rolling option paid only for the season’s nine or so months comes to about £288. Skip the saver plan unless you genuinely want TNT Sports year round.
Sky, as an add on: £28 a month rolling, rising to £34 once your first 24 month Sky contract ends
Virgin Media, as an add on: £25 a month, 31 day rolling, added to an existing Virgin TV package. About £232 across the season, if you’re already a Virgin customer
O2 Extras: £26.99 a month, with a £2 monthly airtime discount, so about £24.99 net. 30 day minimum term. About £232 across the season, if you’re already with O2
BT and EE, TNT only
- BT Sport tier: £5 a month for 3 months, then £25, rising to £27 in March 2027 and £29 in March 2028, 24 month contract
- EE One Add Sport: identical pricing and structure to BT Sport
BT and EE, both broadcasters in one deal
- BT Big Sport / EE Add Big Sport: £15 a month for 3 months, then £55, rising to £57 in March 2027 and £59 in March 2028, 24 month contract. Covers TNT Sports and Sky Sports (via Now) together, this is the one deal here that does both jobs, so don’t count it twice against separate Sky and TNT budgets
EE Mobile SIM: Unlimited Full Works plans, £36 a month, rising to £38.50 in March 2027 and £41 in March 2028, 24 month SIM only contract, includes one premium extra of your choice, which can be TNT Sports
BT reselling other providers: TNT Sports on HBO Max via BT, £25 a month, genuinely flexible one month rolling contract. TNT Sports on Sky, ordered via BT, £25 a month, 24 month contract. Two very different commitment levels for similar sounding products, worth reading the small print
The cashback layer
Whichever route you land on, check a cashback site before you sign up, broadband and TV bundles are consistently among the better paying categories. I’ve used Quidco for the best part of ten years, and reviewed TopCashback too if you want to compare. When I checked in August 2026, Sky deals were paying £40 to £100 cashback depending on the package, and Virgin deals were paying £52 to £80. Worth having on top of an already discounted signup price, whichever route you take.
So what should you actually do
Work through these in order and the right answer tends to fall out quickly.
Already tied into a Sky, Virgin, EE, O2 or BT contract for something else? Look at that provider’s add on price first, it will almost always beat starting somewhere new. Existing Sky customers in particular should know about the £27 rolling Sky Sports add on, cancel through summer and you’re paying barely more across the year than the “cheaper” 24 month tie in, for none of the commitment.
Want the sports channels all year, or only while the football’s on? This is the biggest lever by far. Starting from scratch with no existing loyalty anywhere, the fully flexible route, Now for Sky Sports plus HBO Max rolling for TNT, comes to about £613 for the season, and you walk away from both the day after the final whistle. A 24 month bundle like BT or EE’s Big Sport tier works out at roughly £1,200 to £1,300 over two years for the same two broadcasters. Sounds like more, but run the flexible route for two seasons back to back and you’d pay around £1,226, almost identical. The bundle isn’t actually the expensive option here, the real difference is commitment, not price.
Already a Virgin or O2 customer? Add TNT Sports to that existing account alongside Now for Sky Sports and you’re at around £557 for the season, the cheapest fully flexible combination I found, purely because you’re using a relationship you already have.
Want every game, or happy missing some? Sky has first choice of fixtures, mostly Saturday evenings, Sundays and Monday nights. If you’re happy catching the big games and reading about the rest, the Now Sports Day Membership at £14.99 a match, or picking your moments, will save you a genuinely large amount over committing to a full season.
How much football do you actually watch? Be honest with yourself. I’ve cancelled and rejoined Sky Sports more times than I’d like to admit depending on how my team’s season is going, and there’s no shame in matching your subscription to your actual habits rather than what feels like the “proper” way to do it. It’s the same principle I landed on when I worked out how to get proper value from an Audible membership, a subscription is only worth what you actually use it for, not what it’s theoretically capable of.
A few things worth double checking before you sign up anywhere. Prices for TV, mobile and broadband packages change often, and provider websites will always have the current live figure, so treat everything above as accurate at the time of writing, August 2026, rather than gospel for the whole season. If you spot a better deal than anything listed here, or something’s moved since I wrote this, let me know.