I write about streaming a lot – and I mean a lot, with countless pieces each year about the latest trailers, announcements, cast photos, releases and chart-topping successes. That means I've very much got my finger on the pulse when it comes to picking the best streaming services overall, but that calculation doesn't always mean the top pick is my favourite at a point in time.
Apple TV+ remains the streaming service I'd most recommend to people if they could only have one, since it threads the needle of quality and a low price pretty expertly. However, if you ask me which service is my favourite right now, and which I'm using the most, the answer is different – and there's a clear winner.
I've been using more and more of Now over the last year, whether it's to access the superb programming of Sky Atlantic (with all its HBO goodness) through an entertainment pass, or to tune in to my team winning the Premier League with a sport pass.
I can't pretend it's the simplest service to use, with the boost extras that you need for the highest quality bitrates still a little baffling to me, but in terms of breadth, it's pretty unrivalled. You can get the very best US dramas, the hottest comedies, and a wide world of recently-released movies, all in one place – and when you start to add the sports options on top of that, it gets expansive.
The only downside is that it's also expensive, to be honest, and the more passes you add, the more it adds up. Still, in most cases, you can be quite modular with your approach, and you might only need a pass for a single month to get your fix before moving on to another sort of content.
Just recently, my girlfriend and I have been hoovering up Hacks, a comedy that we couldn't have accessed here in the UK until Sky took on its distribution. It's brilliant, and a great example of the sort of cultural phenomenon that you don't always get on the other standalone streaming sites.
I don't know what the future holds for Now and Sky when HBO finally brings HBO Max to the UK, but I know that thanks to Sky Sports I'm basically never going to give up my Now account – it's a must-have in the UK streaming market, as far as I'm concerned.
