James R | On 29, Oct 2013

Sky have launched a new NOW Entertainment Membership today, a package that offers TV shows on-demand to UK viewers.

The Entertainment Month Pass joins the Movie Pass (£8.99 per month – from 29th May 2014, £9.99 a month) and Sports Pass (£9.99 per day) on Sky’s VOD platform as a new package that allows users to watch the latest programmes, such as Dracula and The Tunnel, for £4.99 per month – a rolling subscription with no minimum contract. (From 29th May 2014, this renews at £6.99 per month.)

It’s a big (and aggressive) move for Sky, but one that has been coming for some time (a service called “NOW” that only offers movies always seemed odd). The arrival of the Entertainment Membership seemed even more imminent after Game of Thrones Season 3 hit Sky Atlantic this year, only to end up on blinkbox’s pay-per-view platform with no way for Sky to share in the streaming profits.

Now it has arrived, the NOW Entertainment Membership is an impressive addition to Sky’s digital roster. It includes titles from 10 channels not available on Freeview: Sky 1, Sky Living, Sky Atlantic, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, Disney Channel, FOX, Gold, MTV, Sky Arts and ABC Studios.

Much like the NOW Cinema Membership, subscribers will be available to watch shows live online as they are broadcast on TV
– hello, Mad Men – and catch up with a selection of titles on-demand.

Game of Thrones may be the dragon-shaped shadow looming over March 2014, but for now, three other words sum up the appeal of Sky’s new service: The Walking Dead.

If NOW adds new channels to its service (which it is no doubt already planning to do), Sky could well become as much a monopoly online as it is in the living room.

Have a look around and see what’s on offer:

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