Sky Sport Now Pass NZ: Day, Month or Annual? 2026 Guide
Sky Sport Now sells a day pass, two month passes and an annual pass. Here is what each costs in 2026, the maths on when each one pays off, and the traps in the fine print.
A Sky Sport Now pass is the only official way to stream Sky’s sport channels in New Zealand without a Sky box, and picking the wrong one can cost you hundreds of dollars a year. There are four passes, and they cost very different amounts per match.
This guide covers what each Sky Sport Now pass costs in 2026, what you actually get, and some simple maths for choosing one. All prices come from Sky Sport Now’s own pricing page and were checked on 30 September 2026. Sky has put prices up every year since 2024, so check again before you buy.
Sky Sport Now pass prices at a glance
| Pass | Price (NZD, incl. GST) | Renews? | Picture quality |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day Pass | $29.99 one-off | No | Sky Sport Full HD, ESPN HD |
| Month Pass | $59.99 a month | Yes, monthly | Sky Sport Full HD, ESPN HD |
| Premium Month Pass | $64.99 a month | Yes, monthly | Adds 4K UHD content |
| Annual Pass | $549.99 a year | Yes, yearly | Adds 4K UHD content |
| Sky Sport Now + Neon | $69.99 a month | Yes, monthly | Premium Month Pass plus Neon Standard |
The two month passes went up by $5 in 2026. RNZ reported in February that the Month Pass moved from $54.99 to $59.99 and the Premium Month Pass from $59.99 to $64.99. The Sky Sport Now day pass and the annual pass stayed the same.
What every Sky Sport Now pass includes
Every pass gets you the same channels. That surprises people, because the price gap between a day and a year is large.
- The 12 Sky Sport and ESPN channels, live
- On-demand highlights, replays and full matches
- The same competitions: All Blacks, Black Ferns, Super Rugby Pacific, NPC, NRL, Premier League, Formula 1, NBA, NFL, golf and more
What you don’t get with any pass:
- Pay-per-view events. Boxing and some UFC cards are sold separately on top of your pass.
- Sky’s entertainment channels. Sky Sport Now is sport only. Neon is the separate streaming service for Sky’s shows and films.
- Viewing outside New Zealand. Sky Sport Now is licensed for viewers in New Zealand.
So the choice of Sky Sport Now pass comes down to three things: how many days you’ll actually watch, how many months of the year you care about, and whether you own a 4K TV.
The Sky Sport Now day pass explained
The Sky Sport Now day pass costs $29.99 and gives you 24 hours of access from the moment you buy it. It doesn’t auto-renew, so there is nothing to cancel afterwards.
Those 24 hours run from when you pay, not to midnight. Buy it at 6:45pm for a 7:05pm Super Rugby kickoff and you have until 6:45pm the next day. That covers the match, the replay the next morning, and anything else on the channels in between.
When a Sky Sport Now day pass makes sense
- One big match you’d hate to miss, such as an All Blacks test when you don’t follow sport the rest of the month
- A single final or decider: a Super Rugby final, the NPC final, a cricket test decider
- A weekend of motorsport where qualifying and the race fall inside one 24-hour window
- Visitors and occasional viewers who don’t want an account that renews
The two-day rule
Two Sky Sport Now day passes cost $59.98, which is the same as a Month Pass. If you’ll watch on two or more separate days in a month, the Month Pass costs the same or less. You also get the rest of the month’s sport thrown in.
Plan by the calendar rather than by the match. During the Rugby Championship or a home test series, All Blacks games are a week apart. A day pass per test costs more than a month’s access by the second weekend.
Month Pass or Premium Month Pass?
Both month passes renew automatically each month and can be cancelled at any time. The only difference is picture quality.
- Month Pass, $59.99: Sky Sport in Full HD, ESPN in HD
- Premium Month Pass, $64.99: adds 4K UHD content
The extra $5 is only worth paying if all of these are true:
- You have a 4K TV and a 4K streaming device (a newer smart TV, Apple TV 4K, a 4K Fire TV Stick, Google TV Streamer)
- Your broadband is fibre, or a very solid connection that can hold around 25 Mbps for a whole match
- The matches you watch are produced in 4K. Sky has expanded its 4K broadcasts, but not every match or channel is shown in 4K
If any of those is missing, you’ll pay $5 a month for nothing. Our 4K streaming guide explains what a 4K picture needs in practice, and our internet speed guide covers what NZ connections can sustain.
The annual Sky Sport Now pass: when it pays off
The annual Sky Sport Now pass is $549.99 for 12 months, with 4K included. Here’s how it compares:
| Option | Cost over 12 months | Annual pass saves |
|---|---|---|
| Month Pass × 12 | $719.88 | $169.89 |
| Premium Month Pass × 12 | $779.88 | $229.89 |
| Annual Pass | $549.99 | n/a |
The break-even is simple. $549.99 divided by $59.99 is about 9.2. If you’d keep a Month Pass for 10 months or more, the annual pass is cheaper, and it includes 4K.
If you only follow one season, it goes the other way. A rugby-only fan who watches Super Rugby (February to June), the July tests, the Rugby Championship and the NPC is covered for roughly eight or nine months. They are close to break-even, and cancelling the month pass in the quiet months usually wins.
Two things to weigh before paying a year upfront:
- No refunds. If you cancel an annual pass, you keep access until the year ends but get nothing back. Our look at paying for a year in advance goes into this risk.
- Renewal. The annual pass renews automatically. Put a reminder in your calendar a week before, in case prices have changed.
Which Sky Sport Now pass suits which fan
The All Blacks-only viewer. Watches the tests and little else. Buy a Sky Sport Now day pass per test when tests are several weeks apart. When they fall on consecutive weekends, buy a Month Pass and cancel it straight away (you keep access until the month ends). Also look at the free delayed replays on Three covered in our free rugby guide.
The Super Rugby regular. Watches most weekends from February to June. A Month Pass through the season, cancelled after the final, is cheapest. Sky Open also shows one Friday night game free each week.
The year-round follower. Premier League from August to May, F1 from March to December, rugby in between. The annual Sky Sport Now pass is the clear winner, with 4K included.
The 4K household. Big 4K TV, fibre, watches regularly. Annual pass if it’s year-round, Premium Month Pass if it’s seasonal.
The household that also wants Sky shows. The $69.99 Sky Sport Now and Neon bundle is cheaper than buying the Premium Month Pass and Neon Standard separately. Check Neon’s current price when you compare.
Plan your Sky Sport Now pass around the sporting year
The cheapest approach for most fans is to switch a Month Pass on and off with the seasons. This is the rough shape of the New Zealand sporting year. Exact dates change every season, so check fixtures before you buy.
| Months | What’s on | Pass that usually fits |
|---|---|---|
| February–June | Super Rugby Pacific, NRL, F1, Premier League run-in | Month Pass |
| July | All Blacks home tests, NRL, F1 | Month Pass, or day passes if you only watch the tests |
| August–October | NPC, All Blacks tests, NRL finals, new Premier League season | Month Pass |
| November | All Blacks northern tour (overnight NZ time), F1 finale | Day passes or Month Pass |
| December–January | Cricket, Premier League, NBA, NFL | Month Pass only if you follow these |
If your list covers ten or more of those twelve months, go back to the annual pass maths above. If it covers five or six, turning a monthly Sky Sport Now pass on and off is cheaper.
Set a reminder the day before each season starts to reactivate, and cancel the day after the last match you care about. Because cancelling keeps access until the paid month runs out, there’s no penalty for cancelling early.
Getting the most out of a Sky Sport Now pass
Test the night before. Sign in on the TV you’ll actually watch on, play any live channel for five minutes, and check the picture. Problems found at 7:03pm on match night are the hardest to fix.
Use Ethernet if you can. A cable from your router to the TV or streaming device removes most match-night buffering. If Wi-Fi is your only option, put the router in the same room or use a mesh point. Our buffering guide walks through the checks, and they apply to any streaming app.
Expect a delay behind live. Streams run anything from several seconds to around a minute behind the stadium. Mute score alerts on your phone, or a notification will spoil the try before you see it.
Watch the data. HD sport uses several gigabytes an hour. On unlimited fibre this doesn’t matter. On a capped plan, a rural wireless connection or a phone hotspot, one weekend of rugby can use a big chunk of your month.
Use the replays. Overseas sport often airs overnight in New Zealand. Every Sky Sport Now pass includes on-demand replays, so a 3am Premier League kickoff can be watched over breakfast. With a day pass, check that the replay falls inside your 24 hours.
Free Sky Sport Now day pass offers
Sky sometimes unlocks free access for selected matches, usually to open a big tour or event. In 2026 Sky gave away a free Sky Sport Now day pass for the opening match of the All Blacks’ tour of South Africa. Sky announces these through Sky Sport’s social channels and the Sky Sport Now site. They go quickly and need an account.
Don’t plan a season around them. They cover one match at a time, and the big games are almost never free live.
How to buy a Sky Sport Now pass
- Go to the Sky Sport Now website on a phone or computer. It’s easier than doing it on a TV remote.
- Create a Sky Sport Now account, or sign in to your existing Sky account.
- Choose your pass and pay by card.
- Install the Sky Sport Now app on your TV or streaming device and sign in with the same details.
- For a big match, do all this the day before. Sign-ups, password resets and app updates are slowest in the half-hour before kickoff, when everyone else is doing the same thing.
The app runs on Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Hisense and Android smart TVs, Apple TV, Fire TV Stick, Chromecast, PS5, iPhone and iPad (iOS 13 or later), Android phones (Android 10 or later), and web browsers. Some older articles say there’s no Fire TV app. That’s out of date: Sky lists Fire Stick as supported.
Cancelling a Sky Sport Now pass
You cancel on the Subscriptions page of your Sky Sport Now account. The rules:
- Day pass: nothing to cancel. It simply ends after 24 hours.
- Month or annual pass: you keep watching until the end of the period you paid for, and no refund is given for the unused part.
That’s why the “buy and cancel straight away” approach works for a single month. Cancelling doesn’t cut you off early. It just stops the next charge.
Sky Sport Now pass or a Sky box?
A Sky Sport Now pass isn’t the only way to get Sky Sport. You can also add Sky Sport to a Sky box subscription. Since 1 April 2026 the Sky Sport package has cost $52 a month, on top of the Sky Starter base package you need first.
A Sky Sport Now pass is better if you want no box, no installation and no contract, you watch in bursts and want to switch off between seasons, or you mostly watch on a phone, laptop or streaming stick.
A Sky box is better if you also want Sky’s entertainment channels, you watch sport most of the year on the main TV, and you want recording on the box itself. Box customers also get the Sky Go app on other devices.
Month-to-month, the Sky Sport Now pass usually costs more per month than the Sport add-on. But it can be turned off, and for seasonal viewers that difference usually wins. Our Sky Sport subscription guide compares the two routes in full.
Where IPTV fits, honestly
People often compare a Sky Sport Now pass with IPTV, so here’s where we stand.
Sky holds the New Zealand rights to most of the sport people pay a Sky Sport Now pass for, and NZ Rugby’s current deal with Sky runs to 2030. If what you want is specifically Sky’s coverage of the All Blacks, Super Rugby or the NPC with New Zealand commentary, Sky Sport Now is the official way to get it on a screen without a Sky box.
IPTV is a different product: a large lineup of live channels from many countries, on the devices you already own, paid for once rather than monthly. Some households use both. Before buying any IPTV plan for a particular competition, ask the provider directly whether that competition is included. We say the same about our own service in our guide to watching sport on IPTV, and you can message us before you buy.
For the full price picture, including Sky’s satellite route, see our Sky Sport Now price guide and every way to get a Sky Sport subscription.
Common questions
How long does a Sky Sport Now day pass last?
24 hours from the moment you buy it. It isn’t tied to a calendar day, so buying just before kickoff gives you until the same time the next day. It doesn’t renew automatically, so there is nothing to cancel.
Is two Sky Sport Now day passes more expensive than a month?
Two day passes cost $59.98, the same as a Month Pass at $59.99. From a second viewing day onwards, the Month Pass is the better buy, and you can cancel it straight away without losing the rest of the month.
Which Sky Sport Now pass includes 4K?
The Premium Month Pass ($64.99) and the Annual Pass ($549.99) both include 4K UHD content. The Day Pass and standard Month Pass show Sky Sport in Full HD and ESPN in HD.
Can I get a refund if I cancel my Sky Sport Now pass?
No. When you cancel a Month or Annual Pass, you keep access until the end of the period you paid for, but Sky doesn’t refund the unused time.
Does a Sky Sport Now pass include pay-per-view boxing and UFC?
No. Pay-per-view events are bought separately, on top of any Sky Sport Now pass.
