Sky Atlantic is sheer television gold, offering a strong selection of award-winning dramas, crime capers and comedies. You can watch the channel on Sky TV packages, although you don’t have to commit to a subscription or contract to get stuck into these premium shows.
What is Sky Atlantic?
Sky Atlantic, as the name suggests, is a channel that houses some of the best shows created in the US, aired here in the UK at the same time as across the pond.
Mainly this was home to HBO shows to start with, which is a pay-per-view channel in the US famed for high quality programming. That’s where we get the likes of Game of Thrones, Westworld and Silicon Valley. These days Sky Atlantic has evolved of course, and offers series like Showtime’s return to Twin Peaks.
Check out our guide to the best new and upcoming Sky Atlantic shows for all of our favourites and why you need this channel in your life.
How do I watch Sky Atlantic?
The most obvious way to get Sky Atlantic on your TV is to splash out on a Sky subscription.
These start at around £22 per month, which gets you over 35 entertainment channels, 11 of which are in HD, plus 250 freeview channels. You’ll also get use of a 1TB Sky Q box for recording, pausing and rewinding video. Contracts are generally for a minimum of one year, though.
If you want access to these awesome shows on Sky Atlantic, you will of course need to pay. However, you do not necessarily need to cough up for a full Sky subscription, as there are other options available that don’t involve Sky contracts. Here are some of the best.
Watch Sky Atlantic on Now TV
One option to avoid the commitment of a Sky contract but still get the Sky Atlantic shows is to use Now TV. This is a way of watching Sky content over your internet connection. You can either watch them online via an app or browser, or on your TV via a dedicated Now TV box which you can pick up for a tenner. You can also watch on PlayStation or Xbox consoles, Roku, LG Smart TVs and Chromecast.
Now TV offers quality Sky programming, minus the subscription. You simply pick the package you want then pay for that on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. This includes Sky Sports, Sky Cinema, Kids and – for Sky Atlantic – Entertainment.
The Entertainment bundle on NOW TV is initially free as part of a 14 day trial, for new users, before costing £7.99 per month. One of the nice things here is that there is often older content also available. So at time of publishing, Game of Thrones’ new series seven episodes are on here, as well as the whole of series six, ideal for those catching up.
Watch Sky Atlantic on a shared Sky subscription
This is a cheeky move, but if you have friends of family with Sky you can enjoy the shows they’re paying for right in your own home, or on the move.
Thanks to the Sky Go app, it’s possible to watch content anywhere using another person’s login details. Sky allows a subscriber to have Sky Go on two devices, or four for Sky Go Extra users. So you can effectively borrow a mate’s login, and maybe even chip in if you’re feeling generous.
Bear in mind this is an app for mobiles and tablets, which makes output to a TV difficult. So if you want to watch on the big screen, you may have to get a little creative.
Watch Sky Atlantic on Virgin, BT or TalkTalk
Unfortunately you can’t watch Sky Atlantic on Virgin, BT or TalkTalk. Despite add-ons for these services allowing you access to the likes of Sky Cinema and Sky Sports you don’t get Atlantic as part of the deal – this is for Sky subscribers only.
Watch Sky Atlantic series via online streaming services
If there’s a particular show that you really want to watch on Sky Atlantic, you may be wise simply to purchase a digital boxset. You can then stream and download each episode, to watch on a variety of devices when it suits you.
For instance, the likes of Amazon, Apple and Google all offer HBO seasons to purchase for a reasonable fee. Some telly providers deliver a similar service, such as the TalkTalk TV Store which can even be used by non-TalkTalk customers to grab a series on demand.
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