By Sky’s Ad Skipping pack allows you to fast-forward through adverts on some Sky TV channels and apps. Find out how it works and whether it’s worth the extra money.
If you’re looking to skip through adverts when you’re watching Sky TV, there’s an optional ‘Ad Skipping’ pack that’s available for Sky Stream and Sky Glass. It costs £5 per month extra, on a 31-day rolling basis.
Before you sign up, it’s worth understanding how the ‘Ad Skipping’ feature actually works, because it only applies to certain channels and apps. It doesn’t remove the adverts entirely and you’ll still need to tap a button or to manually fast-forward to skip them. There are also certain channels and apps that are excluded.
In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at the ‘Ad Skipping’ pack for Sky TV, including how it works and the limitations of it. We’ll also look at the best Sky TV deals with Ad Skipping.
See Sky TV with Ad Skipping deals →
Contents
Ad Skipping on Sky TV
If you’re signing up to Sky TV on a Sky Stream box or a Sky Glass TV, you’ll be given an option to get the Ad Skipping TV pack for an extra £5 per month.
What’s Included With Ad Skipping?
The Ad Skipping pack gives you the following additional functionality:
- Skip adverts with a single button on Sky’s On Demand content. If you’re catching up on shows from Sky’s own TV channels or from the Sky Box Sets service, a ‘Skip Ads’ button will appear at relevant times on your screen. This will allow you to skip through to the end of the adverts with one tap.
- Fast-forward through adverts on live TV (when paused or restarted). If you’re watching live TV on the channels listed on this page, there’ll be a fast-forward feature if the programme has been paused or restarted. This means you’ll be able to fast-forward through the ad breaks, up to the current live broadcast. You can do this using either your remote control or voice.
- Fast-forward through adverts on selected apps. If you’re watching content on ITVX, STV Player, All4 or My5, you’ll be able to fast-forward through adverts using your remote control only.
If you’re using the fast-forward feature, you’ll be able to skip through adverts at up to 30x speed. Press the right button on your Sky TV remote to fast forward. Alternatively, the voice control feature can be more convenient (e.g. you can use a voice command such as “Hello Sky, skip 3 minutes”). However, this is only available on the live TV channels. Whichever option you go for, it can be a bit of a faff trying to accurately catch the end of the ad break when you fast-forward.
What’s Excluded From Ad Skipping?
There are some important exclusions from the Ad Skipping pack:
- Netflix is excluded from the Ad Skipping pack. Both the Essential TV plan and the Ultimate TV plan come with a Netflix subscription. This will be on the Netflix ‘Standard with Ads’ tier. If you’d like to remove the adverts from Netflix, you’ll need to upgrade your Netflix subscription instead (e.g. to Netflix Standard or Premium).
- Ad Skipping isn’t available in other apps. Your Sky TV device will allow you to use other apps such as Spotify and YouTube. However, the Ad Skipping feature won’t carry through into these apps. You’ll continue to see all of the normal ads, in-line with your plan.
- You won’t get extra content from ITVX Premium or All4+. If you subscribe to ITVX Premium or All4+, you’ll get access to their additional content as well as ad-free viewing in their app. This is different from Sky’s Ad Skipping pack, where you’ll only get the standard (free) content with the added ability to fast-forward through adverts.
- You can only fast-forward up to the current live broadcast. It sounds obvious but you can’t fast-forward any further if you’re watching live TV as it’s currently being broadcast. It only works if you’re behind the live broadcast. This means the Ad Skipping functionality is of limited use when you’re watching live sports and current events on TV.
The Ad Skipping pack is not available if you’re a Sky Q customer. On Sky Q, you’ll be able to record up to 500 hours of television. Your Sky Q subscription will then allow you to fast-forward through these recordings as required.
Ad Skipping in Apps
At present, the Ad Skipping pack is only compatible with the following Sky TV apps:
- ITVX
- STV Player
- All4
- see more…
You’ll be able to use your remote control to fast-forward in these apps. However, it doesn’t include any premium content (as you’d get with ITVX Premium or All4+).
Sky’s Ad Skipping pack is not compatible with other third-party apps such as Spotify and YouTube. On these apps, you’ll see adverts in-line with your plan. For instance, you may need to have Spotify Premium or YouTube Premium to remove adverts from these apps.
Is The Ad Skipping Pack Worth It?
Our view s that it really depends on what you’re watching on TV and whether you’re happy to put up with some adverts.
The biggest benefits of the Ad Skipping pack are given to customers who watch a lot of on-demand content from Sky’s own TV channels (e.g. Sky Atlantic or Sky Cinema). There’s a one-tap button to skip through the ads, which can make a big difference if you’re binge watching series like Game of Thrones on catch-up.
For everyone else, there’s only really a benefit from the pack if you’re watching paused or restarted live TV, and if you’re watching on-demand content through ITVX, All4 or other compatible apps. Even then, you’ll still need to manually fast-forward through adverts so it can be a bit of a faff. For a similar price, you could consider upgrading one of your subscriptions instead (e.g. to Netflix Standard, ITVX Premium or All4+), which would give you ad-free viewing with no need to manually fast-forward ads.
If you mainly use other apps like Netflix or watch live TV as it’s broadcast, there’s little point in having the Ad Skipping pack as it won’t make any difference to your viewing.
Sky TV Deals with Ad Skipping
At present, you can get Sky’s Essential TV package from £15 per month and their Ultimate TV package from £22 per month. You’ll then be able to have the Ad Skipping pack for an extra £5 per month on top of this price:
| Service | Broadband & TV | Monthly Cost (may rise during contract) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
 Sky Stream, Essential TV & Netflix
|   
Broadband not included | £15.00 +£5/month ad skipping No upfront fee 24 month contract | See deal |
Sky Stream, Essential TV & Netflix (31 day)
|
Broadband not included | £18.00 +£5/month ad skipping No upfront fee 1 month contract | See deal |
Sky Stream, Ultimate TV & Netflix
| 
Broadband not included | £22.00 +£5/month ad skipping No upfront fee 24 month contract | See deal |
Sky Stream, Ultimate TV & Netflix (31 day)
|
Broadband not included | £25.00 +£5/month ad skipping No upfront fee 1 month contract | See deal |
For extra savings, consider taking Sky Broadband together with Sky TV. You can get a combined package with both broadband and TV included from £35 per month (plus an extra £5 per month for the Ad Skipping pack).
| Service | Broadband & TV | Monthly Cost (may rise during contract) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
Sky Stream, Essential TV & Netflix with Full Fibre 150 Broadband
| 150Mbps average download
| £35.00 +£5/month ad skipping No upfront fee 24 month contract | See deal |
Sky Stream, Essential TV & Netflix with Full Fibre 75 Broadband
| 75Mbps average download
| £35.00 +£5/month ad skipping No upfront fee 24 month contract | See deal |
Sky Stream, Ultimate TV & Netflix with Full Fibre 150 Broadband
| 150Mbps average download
| £39.00 +£5/month ad skipping No upfront fee 24 month contract | See deal |
Sky Stream, Ultimate TV & Netflix with Full Fibre 75 Broadband
| 75Mbps average download
| £39.00 +£5/month ad skipping No upfront fee 24 month contract | See deal |
Sky Stream, Essential TV & Netflix with Full Fibre 500 Broadband
| 500Mbps average download
| £40.00 +£5/month ad skipping No upfront fee 24 month contract | See deal |
Sky Stream, Ultimate TV & Netflix with Full Fibre 500 Broadband
| 500Mbps average download
| £44.00 +£5/month ad skipping No upfront fee 24 month contract | See deal |
More Information
For more information about the Ad Skipping pack, please see the official Sky website.
David said:
Totally agree, will cancel this con next month
Simon said:
I’m now paying £5/month for Ad Skipping, and when I stream Sky content on my iPad I’m still forced to sit through a bunch of ads. How is this in any way okay? The Ad Skipping feature alone costs not so much less than I pay each month for a full BritBox subscription. Sort it out!