Sky Sports bitrate too high to stream

[Hamspring]

Hi all.  Can anyone assist with a process to switch from a Sky contract to Now TV due to Sky Sports app not streaming.  I have Sky Puck steaming contract.

Nursing Home network bandwidth too low for app to start.  Severals others using Now TV with Sky Sports successfully as required lower bitrate (understand quality will be lower).  Many thanks.

[GD1 · Accepted solution]

@Hamspring  There is no mechanism to move/switch from Stream to Now TV, if you're in a minimum term Sky won't let you cancel unless you can convince them you can't use stream due to bandwidth issues.

However if you're in the cool off period of 31 days give Sky a call to cancel, you can then sign up to Now TV through the Now TV website.

[BenJoBanjo]

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@Hamspring wrote:

Hi all.  Can anyone assist with a process to switch from a Sky contract to Now TV due to Sky Sports app not streaming.  I have Sky Puck steaming contract.

Nursing Home network bandwidth too low for app to start.  Severals others using Now TV with Sky Sports successfully as required lower bitrate (understand quality will be lower).  Many thanks.

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Explain to Sky that you do not have sufficient broadband speed in your nursing home to run Sky Stream effectively. They may get you to do some troubleshooting but should eventually let you exit your contract. 

You can switch to using the NOW app on any other streaming device any time you wish. Sky and NOW accounts are entirely separate so you can run both at the same time. 

NOW can run at various different resolutions, and therefore needs a lot less bandwidth than Sky Stream. It also runs from an app stored on a streaming device or smart TV and does not require the same constant connection to a Sky server to function. A basic 720P stream on NOW needs just 2 or 3 Mbps to play. If you pay more for Boost or Ultra Boost you can get full 1080P HD streams and 2160P UHD HDR streams, the same quality as you can get on Sky Stream, but using less bandwidth due to not needing the server connection for the operating system. 

It's one of the good things Sky does - offering a variety of means to get their programming. If you can't get Sky Stream to work well then you can get the same content on your own streaming device via NOW. It's often cheaper too. Sky must be applauded for continuing to offer this alternative means of getting their content. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@BenJoBanjo wrote:

Sky must be applauded for continuing to offer this alternative means of getting their content. 

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Technically you could say it's no longer a 'Sky' product: Now switched to the NBCUniversal Global Streaming Platform earlier this year, so under the hood it's very much a Comcast thing.

https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2025/01/29/now-to-migrate-to-nbcus-global-streaming-platform/  

Interestingly, Comcast has started to use 'Now' branding in the US as an alternative to their other lines.

https://corporate.comcast.com/press/releases/comcast-launches-now-low-cost-internet-mobile-and-tv