Sky's Now TV gets a kid-centric streaming pass
£3 nets you six live channels and on-demand episodes.
Every company with a video streaming service seems to be targeting Britain's youth at the moment. In the last six months, the UK has been introduced to the BBC's iPlayer Kids app, Sky Kids and YouTube Kids, to name just a few. Now it's the turn of Now TV, Sky's standalone streaming platform, to offer a service dedicated to children's TV. It's called the Now TV Kids Pass and will launch on June 21st for £2.99 per month.
In return, you'll get access to six live channels -- Nickelodeon, Nick Jr, Nicktoons, Boomerang, Cartoon Network and Cartoonito -- and thousands of episodes available on demand. These include popular shows like SpongeBob SquarePants, Adventure Time and The Powerpuff Girls. Later in the year, Sky will be adding the exclusive Morph episodes that it's commissioned from Aardman Animations. The app will also pull in content from CBBC, CBeebies, and Channel 5's Milkshake! programming block.
Everything will be displayed in a new kid-friendly interface, which includes large title cards and colourful characters. The service will also offer some parental controls, such as age-restricted PIN locks, to ensure little viewers never stumble across any inappropriate content.
The new Kids Pass means that Nickelodeon, Nick Jr and The Disney Channel will be moving out of the Now TV Entertainment Pass. Disney's exit is notable given that it's not part of the new Kids Pass -- we suspect that's a move on Disney's part to encourage take up of its new DisneyLife streaming service. In exchange, Sky says it will be adding Nat Geo Wild to the Entertainment -- we'll let you decide if that's a fair swap.
