IPTV vs Sky, Virgin Media and NOW: a UK checklist for 2026

A UK household choosing pay television is usually looking at a Sky or Virgin Media contract, a NOW membership, or an IPTV plan. This page is a checklist for that choice. It is not a ranking, and WorldIPTV is not a Sky, Virgin Media or NOW account.

Official figures below come from the public pages named, read on 7 October 2026. WorldIPTV prices come only from this site’s plan file. A bundle that includes broadband is not a television-only price. If a line here does not match the checkout in front of you, use the checkout.

Neighbouring questions already have their own pages. An aerial is IPTV vs Freeview and French TNT, which also points at the TV licence rules. Households that have left the UK are in Watch UK TV abroad. A stack of separate European football passes is IPTV vs sports streaming passes. The published UK package notes live in the IPTV UK guide. This checklist does not repeat that channel list. A name on a country page is not a statement that WorldIPTV holds that broadcaster’s rights. The terms call the line-up indicative. Subscribers are responsible for complying with UK law.

Four routes

Sky. https://www.sky.com/tv, read on 7 October 2026, is selling Sky Stream and Sky Glass. The page says those do not need a satellite dish. Stream is a puck for an HDMI port. Glass is a Sky television. The same legal text tells an existing Sky Q or Sky+ customer that moving across means ending the current subscription, and that Sky Q boxes may have to be returned. This article does not price a dish package, because that page does not.

Virgin Media. https://www.virginmedia.com/tv, the same day, asks for a postcode. The legal text says services are only available in eligible Virgin Media network areas. The television cards are new-customer bundles that include broadband. The minimum period is whatever the basket shows.

NOW. https://www.nowtv.com/, the same day, is a membership in a browser or an app. The homepage says it works on over 60 devices. The Entertainment Saver on that page has a minimum term. Sports is described there as a day membership. Open the pass you would buy and copy its term. Do not assume every NOW pass is month-to-month.

WorldIPTV. A prepaid plan of 1, 3, 6 or 12 months, for one, two or three simultaneous screens. No dish and no rented box. You still pay for your own broadband. The pricing page and compare use the same list as /data/plans.json, generated from content/plans.ts.

The checks

Contract length

On Sky’s page, for new Sky TV customers, the legal text lists Essential TV at £15 a month with a 24-month minimum term (it says prices may change) or £18 a month on a 31-day rolling subscription, then the standard rolling price, currently £21. Ultimate TV is £24 a month with a 24-month minimum term (prices may change) or £27 a month on a 31-day rolling subscription, then currently £37. The same paragraph lists different figures for existing customers. Use your row. The page also shows Sky Ultimate TV with 900 Mbps full fibre at £41 a month, and says prices may change during a 24-month minimum term. That £41 includes broadband.

On Virgin Media’s page the Sport card says from £52.99 a month. The legal text for that bundle, new customers only, says currently £52.99 a month for 24 months, and standard pricing currently £151 from month 25. The line names Mega TV, Sky Sports HD and M350 fibre broadband. Entertainment is the same shape: from £32.99 on the card, and currently £32.99 for 24 months then currently £128 from month 25 in the legal text, with broadband in the bundle. Cinema, Sport + Cinema and Max Volt are “from” prices on the same page. Read the month-25 line for the card you want. Broadband + Flex is “from £28.99 a month”, described as 150+ channels with premium packs you can add or remove every 30 days, available with 24-month broadband deals. This article does not turn that card into a television-only monthly fee.

On NOW’s homepage the Entertainment Saver is £4.99 a month, shown beside £7.99, with a 6-month minimum term. After that term the page says Entertainment auto-renews at £7.99 a month unless cancelled, and that you can cancel anytime with effect at the end of the minimum term. It says standard memberships include ads unless you add Boost or Ultra Boost. A further line says Entertainment and Entertainment & HBO Max saver pricing is a 6-month minimum, then up to £9.99 a month unless cancelled. If those sentences disagree with the button you are about to press, the button wins. Sports is a day membership and a one-off payment. No day price was in the homepage text read on 7 October 2026, so none is printed here.

WorldIPTV’s four lengths are prepaid totals, in the table below. The terms say subscriptions do not renew automatically, a reminder goes out before expiry, and the price paid at purchase is the renewal price while the subscription stays active. There is no 24-month minimum on that list. Twelve months is still twelve months paid up front.

Equipment

Sky’s FAQ says Stream and Glass need broadband, with 25 Mbps recommended, and that both can be self-installed. Wall-mounting Glass needs a professional installer. Package cards say no upfront fees. Glass hardware is separate: Sky Glass Gen 2 is a one-time £699 for 43 inches, £949 for 55 inches and £1199 for 65 inches, plus a £25 fee if you return Glass inside the 31-day cooling-off period.

Virgin Media includes one Stream box. There is no mandatory setup fee when you use a QuickStart kit. Booking an engineer when QuickStart was available is £30. Extra boxes are £10 a month for the first additional box and £5 a month for any further boxes. The kit stays Virgin Media’s property, and you are asked to return it if you leave. None of this applies at an address the postcode checker rejects.

NOW’s homepage describes nowtv.com or the app. It does not describe a dish or a rented recorder.

WorldIPTV does not ship a dish, a cable install or a rented box. A stick or a smart TV you already own is the usual case. Stick setup is the Firestick UK guide and the Fire TV install notes. Other devices the site documents are in the UK guide.

Screens

Count streams, not televisions. Sky’s page includes Sky Go for compatible phones, tablets and laptops, in the UK, on the channels in your package. Whole Home is separate. One legal line prices it at £15 a month extra on a 31-day rolling subscription. Another says that using Stream and Glass together needs Whole Home, currently £13 a month extra, and £15 a month extra from 1 April. Read the sentence that matches the kit you would add.

Virgin Media’s page says Virgin TV Go covers up to five devices, and that you can stream on up to two at the same time, in the UK.

NOW’s homepage describes Boost as two devices at once, in Full HD, with 12 Mbps printed for that add-on, and Ultra Boost as three devices, in 4K, with 30 Mbps printed. A membership without those add-ons is a different stream count.

On WorldIPTV, screens mean simultaneous playback. The app can be installed on more devices than play at once. The plan file multiplies the one-screen total by 1, by 1.4 for two screens, and by 1.75 for three. Patterns and the full grid are in 1, 2 or 3 screens and on compare.

Live sport and 4K

Write the competitions you will watch this month. Then check each seller’s own page for whether that competition is in the pack, on your device, in the quality you want. Leave the cell blank until the page answers it.

On Sky’s page, Sky Sports Complete is £33 a month extra with a 24-month minimum term when you take or renew streaming TV on a 24-month term. The standard price stated there is currently £35 a month extra on a 31-day rolling subscription or outside the minimum term. TNT Sports is £31 a month extra on a 31-day rolling subscription, and it requires streaming TV with Glass or Stream. Ultra HD is a further pack: £6 a month extra, 31-day rolling, 30 Mbps minimum, and the page says not all content is available in UHD.

On Virgin Media’s page, Sky Sports HD sits inside the Sport bundle above, which also includes broadband. The legal text prices a UHD add-on at £7 a month and says Sky Cinema and Sky Entertainment UHD need a V6 or Virgin TV 360 box and a 4K display with HDCP 2.2. The FAQ on that page names TNT Sports Ultimate, Sky Cinema, Sky Entertainment Ultra HD and a Virgin TV Ultra HD channel as Ultra HD channels. Ask whether your fixture is in that set.

On NOW, do not borrow the Entertainment Saver price for sport. Open the day membership and copy the amount. For picture quality, the homepage describes Ultra Boost as 4K. It also says Boost and Ultra Boost do not remove ads from live sports and channels.

For WorldIPTV, search the same competitions during a trial. The site’s published guidance is 10 Mbps for HD and 25 Mbps for 4K per screen, on Ethernet or 5 GHz Wi-Fi. That is a speed note. It is not a statement that a named match is carried, and not a statement that it is in 4K. If the name is missing, keep the service that has it. The UK hub is the package description, not a rights claim.

Catch-up and the guide

Sky’s page says you cannot record on this streaming television. You can save favourites to a playlist, and pause or rewind a live channel for up to 45 minutes. Virgin Media’s Stream section describes My Watchlist, and the Flex copy mentions catch-up players. How many days a given channel keeps is a question for the guide on that box. NOW’s homepage sells television, films and live sport. Which of those have a guide you can scroll is on the membership you select.

WorldIPTV’s site FAQ says the programme guide covers supported countries in local time, and that 7-day catch-up is on the main channels of each country. “Main channels” is the limit. Confirm the programme you care about in the guide during the trial. The EPG notes are about how a player shows a guide.

What to verify before you pay

Write four lines from the company’s own page: the minimum term, the price after the offer ends, how you cancel, and whether a box goes back. Sky says prices may change during a 24-month term. Virgin Media says an early disconnection fee may apply if you cancel during the minimum period, including a move outside the network area, and that the kit must be returned. NOW’s Entertainment Saver cancellation takes effect at the end of the minimum term. If a trial is offered, note whether it needs a card and how long it lasts. The pages read on 7 October 2026 did not state one trial length that covers every Sky, Virgin Media and NOW pack, so none is invented here.

For WorldIPTV the trial is 24 hours, one per household and per email address, with no payment method, from the free trial page. Every paid plan has a 7-day money-back guarantee from activation. The refund policy asks you to email support@worldiptv1.com from the purchase address, subject “Refund”, inside that window. That is not the same as stopping a 12-month plan in month six for a full refund. After seven days, documented service failures are handled case by case on that page. Ask one plain question in English before you pay, and keep the reply.

A UK TV licence, if you watch live television or BBC iPlayer, sits outside all four bills. The Freeview comparison is the pointer. TV Licensing’s site is the ruling.

WorldIPTV prices in pounds

These one-screen sterling totals are the GBP column in content/plans.ts, read in this repository on 7 October 2026. The pricing page, the compare calculator and /data/plans.json take their numbers from that file. Six months is marked popular. Twelve months is marked best value. You pay the prepaid total. The per-month column divides that total by the months and rounds to the cent, the same way the site calculator does.

Two screens multiply the upfront total by 1.4. Three multiply it by 1.75. The 12-month plan is £72.80 on two screens and £91 on three. The 1-month plan on three screens is £9.50 × 1.75, which rounds to £16.63. The worksheet for every currency is plan length and monthly cost. If a figure here ever disagrees with the pricing page, pay the pricing page.

Put an official total beside that only after you have copied it, including add-ons, the price when the offer ends, broadband if the bundle contains it, and any box fee.

Ask on WhatsApp

If those pages are read and you still want a 24-hour look on a television you already own, message WorldIPTV on WhatsApp at +44 7307 410512: https://wa.me/447307410512?text=Hello%2C%20I%20am%20on%20worldiptv1.com.%20Page%3A%20IPTV%20vs%20Sky%2C%20Virgin%20and%20NOW%3A%20UK%20checklist%202026..