NOW TV ending kids service 10 June 2021 at 12:31PM edited 10 June 2021 at 12:32PM in TV MoneySaving 8 replies 213 views

Stuart_W

I have the NOW TV £3.99 kids monthly subscription, and have done for years, mostly paid for with Tesco clubcard vouchers. Our children use it quite a lot. My wife and I are not interested in any pay-for TV, all the free services are fine. 
Netflix is more expensive and has less of the kids content they watch. Are there any other ways to watch programmes from Nick Jr / Cartoon Network / Boomerang available? No cable or satellite here. Could we really be faced with paying the massive increase on NOW TV to paying for the full entertainment package, which is where the kids stuff is moving too (or I should say moving back to, it was originally all one, several years ago they split it up, clearly  commercially it didn't work and that plan is now being reversed).

pphillips

Have you had a look at the Amazon Kids+ subscription, also at £3.99 per month?
Otherwise I suggest making a complaint to Now TV about the extra cost.

Neil_Jones

Stuart_W said:

I have the NOW TV £3.99 kids monthly subscription, and have done for years, mostly paid for with Tesco clubcard vouchers. Our children use it quite a lot. My wife and I are not interested in any pay-for TV, all the free services are fine. 
Netflix is more expensive and has less of the kids content they watch. Are there any other ways to watch programmes from Nick Jr / Cartoon Network / Boomerang available? No cable or satellite here. Could we really be faced with paying the massive increase on NOW TV to paying for the full entertainment package, which is where the kids stuff is moving too (or I should say moving back to, it was originally all one, several years ago they split it up, clearly  commercially it didn't work and that plan is now being reversed).

Well if you want the kids to have access to the children's stuff, you might as well make use of the non-kids stuff.  Or cancel the lot.  Your choice. Otherwise those channels are only available as part of "other" pay TV packages - Sky, Virgin and BT.  Now will be the cheapest way to get it.  YouTube Kids might be another option.

The only saving grace I suppose is that the kids will grow out of those channels eventually.

mjm3346

Now TV are really try to squeeze out every penny.
Movies are dropping £2 a month, kids are becoming part of the entertainment package without a price increase for entertainment but a higher cost if you had kids and not entertainment.
The real twist of the knife is now only allowing 1 stream instead of 2 and adding ad breaks to movies and box sets. To stream on 3 devices (at once) without ad breaks you need the boost package which is going up from £3 to £5 a month.

(I don't know what kids stuff there is on netflix but it's 1 stream package is £5.99 a month so cheaper than NOW TV will be - Disney plus which allows 4 streams is also cheaper than NOW TV @ £7.99 month or £79.90 year)

[Deleted User]

If it’s just the kids channels you want I’d just stick with free view. The children will soon adapt. 

Stuart_W

Thanks for all the comments. I have failed to find the key programmes they watch on Cartoonito / Boomerang / Cartoon Network / Nick Jr elsewhere, a few series here and there, Milkshake is pretty good for a lot of Nick Jr programmes, some can be found on ITV LittleBe, the Amazon Kids + option seemed to have very little of the programmes I am after, and even buying the series to stream isn't always available as an option for much of the stuff either - which we would consider.
Because they both often watch a different programme at once and no adverts is a big draw for us, we're actually facing a price hike from £3.99 to £14.99 per month once all offers run out, as I would need the boost package to remove ads and allow two to stream at once. However, at the moment this is pretty much their only screen time at the moment (other than school homework) so we are seriously considering it, as it is still the cheapest option if we definitely want to keep the same content.

jon81uk

All the Disney channels moved to Disney+ last year so the Now Kids package was no longer as good value. Now the Fox channels are ending (and some content moves to Disney+ too) so the entertainment pass is no longer as good value. Sky obviously think the best way to make more money is to recombine Entertainment and Kids to make the entertainment pass look better value again. But with adverts coming to Now next month unless you pay the extra £5 for boost I don't think its going to be worth it anymore. Compared to Netflix and Disney+ Now and Sky seem very expensive.

You may want to look at Disney+ as that is only £7.99 a month? or maybe alternate between Now and Disney for a bit?

Edit to add, just read your more recent post and considered you are mainly looking for Nickelodeon content. They are owned by ViacomCBS (who own Channel 5 and MTV, Comedy Central etc in the UK). Maybe Paramount+ will come to the UK at some point and they then move that content off Now/Sky? But for now I think you will just need to complain at Now TV and see if they listen if these are the channels you really want and Disney doesn't offer shows your kids like.

mjm3346

At the moment I've got a few months left of sport at £25 a month, 6 months of movies to go at £5.99 and 2 months of entertainment at £5 a month, I currently pay £3 for boost but I will not be paying a £5 for it - especially as they are losing FOX programming to Disney plus (which I have for under £50 a year). I stream shows shortly after transmission in the USA and I don't mind paying the legit sites even if I don't actually stream from them but cutting to one stream and adding ads - might as well watch film 4 etc on unlimited devices - going forwards it will be Prime (occasionally with added channels) and Disney plus

As for £14.99 I would definitely try and beat them down on price (I have never paid over £5 for entertainment and when there were vouchers about it could be had for under £3) 

Neil_Jones

jon81uk said:

Edit to add, just read your more recent post and considered you are mainly looking for Nickelodeon content. They are owned by ViacomCBS (who own Channel 5 and MTV, Comedy Central etc in the UK). Maybe Paramount+ will come to the UK at some point and they then move that content off Now/Sky? But for now I think you will just need to complain at Now TV and see if they listen if these are the channels you really want and Disney doesn't offer shows your kids like.

The Nickelodeon suite of channels is 40% owned by Sky., and 60% by ViacomCBS.  Sky will have a vested interest in keeping them on Now/Sky Digital, though not the overall say.