I did the maths on Sky’s new HBO Max bundle – and I could actually save nearly £10 a month (aff)

There was supposed to be a point where streaming made TV cheaper.

Instead, like a lot of people, I’ve somehow ended up paying for Netflix, Disney+, sports packages and entertainment subscriptions all separately every month – and when you actually stop and add it up properly, the number is a bit grim.

That’s why Sky’s newly expanded Ultimate TV package with HBO Max caught my attention.

Sky has now added HBO Max into a package that already includes Netflix and Disney+, while also offering the option of adding Sky Sports on top.

The company promotes the new Sky HBO Max bundle as a way of bringing major streaming services together under one roof. But I wanted to know whether it genuinely worked out cheaper than paying for everything individually.

So I did the maths.

You can see the latest Sky Ultimate TV deals here.

Sky’s Ultimate TV package currently starts from £24 per month for new customers on a 24-month contract.

According to Sky, the Ultimate TV package includes:

• Netflix Standard with Ads
• Disney+ Standard with Ads
• HBO Max Basic with Ads
• Discovery+
• Hayu
• Sky Entertainment channels including Sky Atlantic
• More than 130 TV channels

Sky Sports is not included in the £24 entry-level pricing, but can be added separately through the latest Sky Sports and Ultimate TV offers.

Using current UK monthly pricing, here’s what I’m effectively paying now for a fairly typical streaming setup:

• NOW Entertainment Membership – £6.99
• NOW Sports Membership – £34.99
• Disney+ Standard with Ads – £5.99
• Netflix Standard with Ads – £5.99

That already comes to £53.96 a month.

By comparison, Sky Ultimate TV with Sky Sports currently starts from £44 a month for new customers.

According to the sums, I could actually be almost £10 a month better off by switching to the Sky package instead – roughly £120 over a year – while also gaining access to HBO Max, Hayu, Discovery+ and Sky entertainment channels that I don’t currently have.

That was the part that genuinely surprised me.

Because streaming often feels cheap when you look at each subscription on its own. But once you start stacking sport, entertainment and family streaming services together, the monthly cost escalates fast.

Of course, it is not a perfectly like-for-like comparison.

Sky’s bundle combines traditional TV channels and integrated streaming access, while standalone services work differently. Some households also rotate subscriptions throughout the year rather than paying continuously.

But the comparison does highlight how fragmented TV subscriptions have become – and why packages like Sky Ultimate TV with HBO Max are starting to look attractive again for households already paying for several services simultaneously.

The arrival of HBO Max is a big part of that.

The service includes major HBO shows and Warner Bros content including:

• House of the Dragon
• The Last of Us
• Succession
• The White Lotus
• Friends
• The Sopranos
• Dune: Prophecy

For viewers already paying separately for Netflix and Disney+, HBO Max may be the tipping point that suddenly makes an all-in-one package feel more practical.

You can compare the latest Sky TV and HBO Max bundles here.

There are trade-offs.

The headline pricing depends on signing up to a long-term contract, which will not appeal to everyone. Flexibility remains one of the biggest selling points of standalone streaming services.

But after actually adding up the numbers properly, I can at least see why Sky believes bundles like this could appeal to people who are getting fed up with managing multiple subscriptions and rising monthly costs.

The bigger picture is that TV may slowly be circling back towards something that looks surprisingly familiar: fewer separate subscriptions, more aggregation and larger all-in-one entertainment packages built around convenience.