Now TV's cinema pass prices have gone up – check if you can beat the hike

The streaming company, which is owned by Sky, increased the cost of its Sky Cinema monthly pass from £9.99 to £11.99 – a 20% rise.

The pass gives you unlimited access to more than 1,000 films on demand, and lets you download them to mobile devices to watch offline.

The latest rise comes after Now TV increased the price of its daily and weekly sports passes by up to £2 in February.

See our Watch Movies & TV Online and Digital TV Deals guides for more ways to save.

Got a Sky Cinema pass? Check your account now

You need to check how the rise will affect you: 

• Already got a monthly Sky Cinema pass? The monthly pass auto-renews, so you'll be charged the higher price of £11.99 on your next bill (after 3 April). But you can cancel at any point, so if you no longer want to keep the pass do it now.

• Got a fixed-term Sky Cinema pass? There are also offers for Sky Cinema passes, eg, a two-month pass for £15. If you've already bought one of these passes, the price won't increase during the period it's valid for.

  But they auto-renew to become a monthly rolling contact, so remember to cancel the pass before this point if you don't want to pay £11.99/mth.

Check if you can beat the rise

You can often pick up discounted vouchers for Now TV passes on their own or as part of a bundle from other retailers. You can use these even if you've previously had a Sky Cinema monthly rolling pass.

When we checked today, we found a two-month Now TV Sky Cinema pass for £15 online at Currys – a saving of around £9 compared to two monthly passes at the standard rate. We also saw the same pass listed on Argos's website as being available in some stores, although it wasn't available online.

Remember though, if you let the pass auto-renew you'll be charged the new higher price, so be on the ball and remember to cancel if you don't want to pay this.

If you have a rolling contract, you could also try cancelling it, as some customers have reported immediately being offered a discount to entice them to stay. Alternatively, you can try haggling via Now TV's online chat.

What does Now TV say?

Now TV says it last raised the price of its cinema pass in October 2014, when it went up from £8.99 to £9.99.

A Now TV spokesperson said: "We last changed the Now TV Sky Cinema Pass price four and a half years ago and since then have brought customers even more choice and flexibility, along with 11 live channels, a collection of over 1,000 films and a new film premiere every day.

"This change will allow us to continue to invest in even more great content and functionality to keep evolving the viewing experience for our customers."