TNT Sports vs Sky Sports

It used to be easy: if you wanted to watch sporting events on your TV, you'd just pay for a Sky Sports subscription. But now it has a major competitor in TNT Sports.

TNT Sports is a new name, but the service has been around for a while. It was previously called BT Sport and was launched back in 2013 as the first genuine competitor for Sky. But how do TNT Sports and Sky Sports compare? Which is cheaper, which is the best – and can you get away with a single subscription or should you shell out for both? Read on as we weigh up the pros and cons of the two contenders.

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What sports can you watch on TNT and Sky?

Currently, TNT Sports customers who sign up to the full range of TNT channels (TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports 2, TNT Sports 3 and TNT Sports 4) can watch 42 exclusive live Premier League games per season, with this due to rise to 52 in 2025. You'll also get to watch live matches from other football competitions, including the Champions League and Europa League. 

Other options on TNT Sports include:

• Live rugby games from the Gallagher Premiership and Champions Cup
• Cricket (including the Ashes) 
• Major League Baseball
• Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
• World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)
• National Basketball Association (NBA) 
• MotoGP 
• Boxing
• Hockey 
• North American college sports such as football and basketball

Sky Sports offers 11 channels, including a dedicated Sky Sports News channel. Football fans who subscribe to Sky Sports can watch more than 140 live Premier League games, with this increasing to 215 in 2025. Sky has a dedicated channel for the Premier League and another one for football more generally so you can also an array of events including the Carabao Cup, English Football League (EFL), Scottish Premiership and Women's Super League (WSL). 

Other options on Sky Sports include:

• Live rugby (including England internationals) 
• Cricket (including every England home test, one-day and T20 match), 
• American football in the National Football League (NFL)
• Tennis (there is a dedicated channel)
• Golf, including Major Tournaments (there is a dedicated channel)
• Formula 1 (there is a dedicated channel)
• Netball
• Rugby league
• Boxing
• Darts
• Horse racing

Both TNT and Sky offer HD and Ultra HD content.

How much do TNT Sports and Sky Sports cost?

You don't have to be an EE (or BT) pay-TV customer to watch TNT Sports, or a Sky pay-TV customer to watch Sky Sports. Most TV providers let you add the channels to your pay-TV package, although you'll often get a better deal if you subscribe to them directly.

Signing up to TNT Sports

Some EE TV and broadband packages already include the TNT Sports channels. BT broadband customers can pay £20 a month (for a monthly rolling contract) to watch TNT Sports via the Discovery+ app. 

Sky customers will pay £20-£32 per month for TNT Sports, depending on their package, and may have to commit to an 18-month contract. Virgin Media customers can add TNT Sports on a rolling monthly basis, for £18 per month.

If you don't have a pay-TV service, or get yours from another provider, you can sign up for Discovery+ Premium including TNT Sports. It costs £30.99 per month on a rolling basis and also includes access to live Eurosport and Discovery+ entertainment content. You can watch the service via a web player or the Discovery+ app on compatible internet-enabled devices, such as smart TVs, tablets, phones, or via Amazon Fire, Chromecast or Roku.

Signing up to Sky Sports

Sky Sports is often a little pricier than TNT Sports. Sky customers can add it to their service for £23-£30 a month with an 18-month contract. You can pay less if you're happy to add just a single channel – Sky Sports HD, for example, or a dedicated football, golf or cricket channel. Extra channels can also be added for an additional fee, but you'll likely find that you get better value by subscribing to the full array of channels rather than just two or three of them.

Customers using other pay-TV services will pay a different amount depending on the way Sky Sports channels are bundled with their deal. For example, Virgin Media offers Sky Sports HD in its Bigger bundle + Sports, but if you choose to add the Sky Sports collection to its cheapest bundle, this will cost £31.75 a month in SD (HD is another £7). 

Customers who have Sky through EE TV can access Sky Sports channels via EE's Big Sport add-on, which is based around a Now TV pass and costs £34.99 a month. Similarly, TalkTalk TV customers can Sky Sports via a Now Sports pass for £34.99 a month, though discounted offers are often available.

In fact, anyone can access Sky Sports without a pay-TV subscription through Now (formerly known as Now TV). The Sky-owned streaming service offers one-off passes to watch all the Sky Sports channels on your TV or an internet-enabled device, with no need for a contract. To do this, you simply need to open a Now account online and then choose between the day or month passes, which cost £11.99 and £34.99, respectively. Now also occasionally has special offers on its passes that mean you might be able to pick up a month pass for even less. Find out more about how it works and which devices you can use it with in our guide to Now.

Which provider should you pick for the best sports coverage?

The best option depends on your personal preferences. If you want the widest choice of sporting events, Sky Sports is your best bet. But if you're looking to cut costs, TNT Sports can be better value – especially if you sign up for it as part of a TV and broadband package with BT, EE or Virgin Media.

But it's also crucial to consider the specific sports you want to watch – there's little point in signing up for TNT Sports if you're mad about F1, or choosing Sky Sports if you're a Champions League fanatic.

If you're a big sports fan – and your budget allows – you can sign up to both Sky Sports and TNT Sports for the ultimate TV sports line-up. BT, EE, Sky and Virgin Media all offer packages that include both services. If you're fan of the Premier League, you'll need access to both to catch the majority of games – plus Amazon Prime Video which currently hosts the remainder.

Fortunately, you don't have to commit to a long-term contract if you'd rather not: it's now possible to access both TNT and Sky Sports services on a monthly basis (Sky Sports via a Now Sports pass, and TNT Sports via Discovery+) so you can just sign up for the services for a certain period. And if you're only interested in a specific sporting event – such as the Super Bowl, for example – then Sky's day-long Now Sports pass offers a handy option.