Sky Ultimate TV: All Of The Extra Channels & How It Compares To Essential TV

The Ultimate TV plan for Sky Stream and Sky Glass comes with 42 extra channels that you won’t get on Essential TV. Find out how it compares.

In the UK, it’s now possible to choose the Ultimate TV plan, when you sign up for a Sky Stream box or a Sky Glass TV in the UK.

The Ultimate TV plan starts from £22 per month on a 24-month contract and comes with about 130 live TV channels. This includes 42 channels that are not available on the Essential TV plan. You’ll also get Netflix and Discovery+ at no extra cost.

In this article, we’ll review the Ultimate TV plan for Sky Stream and Sky Glass, including all of the channels available on it. We’ll also look at the best Ultimate TV deals, currently available in the UK.

Plans From:	£22 per month (price may change during contract)
What’s Included?	Approx 130 channels including all Sky Entertainment channels Netflix Standard with Ads Discovery+ Standard Sky Stream box
Works With:	Sky Stream & Sky Glass (new & existing customers)
Previous Names:	Sky Entertainment & Netflix plan

What is Ultimate TV?

In the UK, Ultimate TV is the new name for the ‘Sky Entertainment & Netflix’ plan on Sky Stream and Sky Glass. Prior to December 2024, this was the only way to get Sky Stream or Sky Glass. This means you had to subscribe to the full range of channels. However, it’s now possible to choose a cut-down Essential TV plan, if you don’t need access to all of the Ultimate TV channels.

With Ultimate TV, you’ll get about 130 channels in total, including all of the Sky Entertainment channels like Sky Witness, Sky Max, and Sky Comedy. You’ll also get some other premium channels included like National Geographic, Comedy Central, and U&GOLD. This is on top of everything that’s included on the Essential TV plan, as well as Netflix and discovery+.

If you had previous signed up to Sky Stream or Sky Glass before the 4th December 2024, you would have been placed on the Ultimate TV plan (previously known as Sky Entertainment & Netflix). Customers on the Sky Q satellite TV system will be on the Sky Signature plan instead.

Sky Ultimate TV Channels

On the Ultimate TV plan, you’ll get about 130 live TV channels, as well as Netflix and discovery+ on your Sky Stream box.

Compared to Essential TV, there are 42 extra channels available on the Ultimate TV plan. This consists of:

• Sky Entertainment channels (except from Sky Atlantic and Sky Arts, which are also available on Essential TV). For instance, you’ll need the Ultimate TV plan if you want the Sky Max and Sky Witness channels. There are also lots of factual channels that are exclusive to Ultimate TV, such as Sky Documentaries, Sky Nature, Sky Crime, and Sky History.
• Other entertainment channels like National Geographic, Crime+Investigations, U&alibi, and U&GOLD. With Essential TV, you won’t have the full range of channels, but there might be other channels that are comparable (e.g. Discovery, TRUE CRIME and U&Drama).
• Music channels like MTV are only available on the Ultimate TV plan.
• Most international channels like B4U, Colors, Sony and Utsav are only available to customers on the Ultimate TV plan. The Essential TV plan comes with 5 basic international channels.

The following table shows a full list of channels that are available on Ultimate TV (channels marked with a are exclusive to Ultimate TV):

The Ultimate TV plan includes a Netflix ‘Standard with Ads’ membership (worth £4.99 per month), as well as discovery+ Standard (worth £6.99 per month). You’ll be able to add a range of packs to your Ultimate TV plan such as Sky Sports, Sky Cinema, and TNT Sports.

Is Ultimate TV Worth Getting?

With the launch of Essential TV, there’s now a cheaper way of getting Sky Stream and Sky Glass in the UK. Not only that, you’ll still get Sky Atlantic on the Essential TV plan, which is one of the main reasons that people sign up for Sky (it has their most popular shows like ‘House of the Dragon’ and more). You’ll also get Netflix and Discovery+ included, which should already give you lots of things to watch.

If you’re considering Ultimate TV, the question to ask yourself is whether those additional 42 channels are worth the extra cost. The main difference is that most of Sky’s entertainment channels are only available on Ultimate TV, including Sky Max, Sky Witness, and more. It might be worth having a look to see the shows currently available on those channels. In addition, there are some other channels like National Geographic, U&GOLD, and the international channels. If those channels are important to you, you’ll need to upgrade to the Ultimate TV plan.

If you want access to other channels like Sky Sports, Sky Cinema or TNT Sports, there’s no need to upgrade to the Ultimate TV plan. That’s because you can just sign up on the Essential TV plan, and those extra channels will be available to you as an add-on. For instance, you can get Essential TV with Sky Cinema for £23 per month. As well as the Sky Cinema channels, you’ll also get Paramount+ included with this, plus two Vue cinema tickets every month. For many people, this could be a better value alternative to the Ultimate TV plan.

Ultimate TV Deals

Sky’s Ultimate TV plan is currently available from £22 per month. You can choose between a 24-month contract and a 31-day rolling contract:

Service	Broadband & TV	Monthly Cost (may rise during contract)
Sky Stream, Ultimate TV & Netflix Sky Stream	Ultimate TV & Netflix Sky Atlantic Sky Entertainment channels Netflix Standard with Ads Discovery+ Standard Broadband not included	£22.00 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract	See deal
Sky Stream, Ultimate TV & Netflix (31 day) Sky Stream	Ultimate TV & Netflix Sky Atlantic Sky Entertainment channels Netflix Standard with Ads Discovery+ Standard Broadband not included	£25.00 per month No upfront fee 1 month contract	See deal

To use a Sky Stream box or a Sky Glass TV, you’ll need to have a fibre broadband connection with a download speed of 25Mbps or more. Your broadband can come from any UK provider (including BT, EE, Plusnet, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Vodafone). However, if you’d like to renew your home broadband service, there are savings available when you take Sky Broadband with Ultimate TV:

Service	Broadband & TV	Monthly Cost (may rise during contract)
Sky Stream, Ultimate TV & Netflix with Full Fibre 75 Broadband Sky Full Fibre 75 Sky Stream	75Mbps average download Ultimate TV & Netflix Sky Atlantic Sky Entertainment channels Netflix Standard with Ads Discovery+ Standard	£43.00 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract	See deal
Sky Stream, Ultimate TV & Netflix with Full Fibre 150 Broadband Sky Full Fibre 150 Sky Stream	150Mbps average download Ultimate TV & Netflix Sky Atlantic Sky Entertainment channels Netflix Standard with Ads Discovery+ Standard	£44.00 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract	See deal
Sky Stream, Ultimate TV & Netflix with Full Fibre 500 Broadband Sky Full Fibre 500 Sky Stream	500Mbps average download Ultimate TV & Netflix Sky Atlantic Sky Entertainment channels Netflix Standard with Ads Discovery+ Standard	£49.00 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract	See deal

More Information

For more information about Ultimate TV, please see Sky’s official website. You can also read our overview of all Sky Stream deals, as well the Essential TV plan.