Do I now need a membership?

[Danny3]

Hi,

So for a while now I have been using a Now TV stick connected into a HDMI port of my TV (Sony Bravia) and I have had no problems. I used it mainly as a gateway to the Disney Plus app, which was not available on my TV or via my Virgin box. I used to buy the occasional Sky Sports pass but I haven't done that in a while. Well today the Disney Plus app had a bit of an issue and I thought that as I hadn't reset my Now TV stick in a while maybe I should, just to rule anything out on there. However when I connected back up and got passed the network config page, it gave me a code to enter online. When I entered that code I was then prompted to enter card details, and set up a membership. Since when do need to set up card details to simply access the Disney Plus app? I thought the idea with Now TV was that it was pay as you go? Why do I need a membership to get to the other apps now? Especially free ones such as BBC iPlayer? I was never informed of this change, but now I'm left without access to Disney plus, unless I pay for the privilege correct?

I hope I'm being stupid and I'm missing something or doing something the wrong way but I cannot see how. Please advise.

[schnapps]

Hi @Danny3 

If you factory reset the NOW Stick which it sounds like what you have done, then unfortunately to get the Stick running again you either need to start a free trial (NOW only offers Hayu under the free trial) or you need to buy a NOW Membership to take advantage of the third party Apps such has Netflix, Disney Plus etc on your Stick again.

If you go down the above route, make sure you cancel fully immediately.

[RoyB]

@Danny3 

To add to what @schnapps has said, it’s not a change - it’s the way Now Sticks have always worked. But it will have seemed entirely natural when you, or the first owner of the Stick, set it up.

And it will have chugged along quite happily supplying the non-Now apps to anyone using the Stick, even with no Memberships on it. But there will always have been a Now account associated with it, even if you didn’t know what it was.

And when you reset it, it goes back to basics, and wakes up as a Now Stick, asking for payment details as it will have done originally. Now probably didn’t anticipate the situation you find yourself in, and even if they did, they likely would have declined to program for it.

But now you need to give it card details, and they must be real, and if it insists on you having a membership as well, take the free trial of Hayu and cancel it.

And bear all this in mind if you are ever tempted to factory reset it again in the future; do everything you can to avoid that, and if you have to do it, start yet another account, and hope you can get on another Hayu free trial then 😛