After a short-lived reprieve, the NBC News Now channel has been deleted from Sky’s UK channel line-up after less than two years.
- Sky originally announced the channel was getting the chop in November, but it remained on air.
- In addition to getting the axe on satellite, Sky confirms NBC News Now’s departure from streaming platform.
- The channel continues to stream on YouTube and other platforms.
Originally launched in the US as a free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel, NBC News Now was already widely available on YouTube before launching on Sky in early 2022 and making its UK debut.
But last month, Sky announced the channel would no longer be part of its satellite TV line-up after 21st November. Then it performed a U-turn, with the channel remaining part of the Sky package.
At 10:00 on Thursday morning, the channel was removed from Sky satellite. Sky has also confirmed the channel is also axed from its streaming service, used by Sky Glass TVs and Sky Stream pucks.
NBC News Now was only available to subscribers in the UK, not Republic of Ireland.
NBC News Now elsewhere
Since launching on Sky, NBC News Now has also rolled out on Virgin Media and most recently on Samsung TV Plus. The Samsung TV Plus option means viewers with a compatible Samsung smart TV, tablet or phone can access the stream for free. This is in contrast to Sky, which required a subscription to access the channel. The channel also streams on YouTube.
NBC News Now was never available on older satellite boxes as it was HD only. Its encryption meant it was not available on Freesat, either.
NBC is owned by Comcast, who are also Sky’s parent company. This year, NBC News Now has begun to simulcast selected content from Sky News.
Marc Thornham