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Best for film buffs
If you spend a lot of time watching movies, but don’t necessarily want to spend money on DVDs or trudge down to your local Blockbuster to rent one, then you’ll want your digital TV package to offer the latest Hollywood hits, cult classics and family films.
On the other hand, if you don’t watch much TV, but want the option of watching a good movie once in a while there are still options available, and even Freeview has a movie channel - Film 4 - which broadcasts from 1pm to 4am and focuses on niche and highbrow movies, showing old and new independent, arthouse, British, foreign language and specialist cinema, along with some critically-acclaimed Hollywood films, rather than blockbusters.
So, however you want to watch, there’s a digital TV package to suit your needs.
BT Vision
BT Vision’s (www.BTVision.bt.com) philosophy is that “if you only watch one film this year you should only pay for one film this year”. BT Total Broadband customers can sign up to BT Vision, which is an essentially free service, with optional extras and add-ons available too. BT Vision is great for people who only want to watch the occasional movie, without having to pay for a host of films they’ll never watch.
The bare basics that customers get are the Freeview channels that are available in their area, and the V-Box lets you rewind and pause “live” TV while the V-box also lets you record Freeview channels. Customers can then watch pay-per-view programming including an extensive range of films, available to rent from £1.99 up to £2.99 for the latest releases. Their film library covers comedy, Drama, Action/Adventure, Romance, Family, Horror, Sci Fi and Thrillers, and current favourites include Babel, Pirates of the Caribbean: The curse of the Black Pearl and The Goonies.
In addition to the movies and TV rentals available for pay-per-view, customers can sign up to subscriptions covering TV on demand and TV replay, Kids on demand, and Music. These subscriptions have no minimum term so customers can sign up for as few or as many months as they like and can save by signing up to all three.
Virgin Media (www.VirginMedia.com) offers a range of options for those wanting access to movie channels. Those on the Size:M package get the free-to-air channels as well as a few extras like Virgin Central, so movie-wise customers will only get Film4 - the same as Freeview customers. Size:M costs £11 a month and includes a Virgin Media phone.
Those on Size:L and Size:XL get access to Film4 and the channel’s one hour time-shift variant, Movies 24 and Turner Classic Movies. Size:L costs £20 and includes a Virgin Media phone, while Size:XL costs £31.50 when taken with a Virgin Media phone line. All the Virgin Media digital TV packages must be taken with a phone line.
Customers on any of these packages can add Sky Movies to their package for an additional cost. To add Sky Movies 1 - which offers Sky Comedy, Family, Classics and Modern Greats - or Sky Movies 2 - which offers Sky Action/Thriller, Sci Fi/Horror, Indie and Drama - Size:M customers must pay an additional £28 a month, Size:L customers £19 a month and Size:XL customers an additional £15 a month.
To add the Sky Movies Collection - which offers the Sky Movies 1 and 2 packages as well as Sky Movies Premier, Size:M customers must pay an additional £30 a month, Size:L customers pay £24 and Size:XL pay an additional £18 a month.
Or to see how this compares to Sky in total monthly costs, see the table below.
Sky
Those wanting to get the most comprehensive digital TV package, with the most movies and for the least price should check out Sky (www.Sky.com). You don’t have to take any of the other services and can choose between two, four and six “mixes” to make up your basic package. These cover off Variety, Knowledge, Kids, Style and Culture, Music and News and Events. However many of these you sign up to, you also get access to almost 200 free-to-air channels too.
Stand-alone, Sky costs £16 a month for one mix, going up by £1 for each additional mix you add. To add Sky Movies (for which you get Sky Movies 1 and 2 as well as Sky Movies Premier and Disney Cinemagic) you simply pay an extra £18 if you have one, two or three mixes, or an extra £17 if you have four, five or all six mixes.
Click here for more information on Sky or visit the Sky website at www.Sky.com
To see how Sky compares to Virgin Media in total monthly costs, see the tables below:
Light user:
Virgin Media
Sky
Package
Size:M
Two mixes
Monthly cost
£11 a month and includes a phone line
£15 a month
Total cost when only Sky Movies 1 is added
£39 a month and includes a phone line
£34 a month and includes Sky Movies 2
Total cost when only Sky Movies 2 is added
£39 a month and includes a phone line
£34 a month and includes Sky Movies 1
Total cost for both Sky Movies 1 and 2
£41 a month and includes a phone line
£34 a month
Intermediate user:
Virgin Media
Sky
Package
Size:L
Four mixes
Monthly cost
£20 a month and includes a phone line
£18 a month
Total cost when only Sky Movies 1 is added
£39 a month and includes a phone line
£36 a month and includes Sky Movies 2
Total cost when only Sky Movies 2 is added
£39 a month and includes a phone line
£36 a month and includes Sky Movies 2
Total cost for both Sky Movies 1 and 2
£44 a month and includes a phone line
£36 a month
Heavy user:
Virgin Media
Sky
Package
Size:XL
Six mixes
Monthly cost
£31.50 and includes a phone line
£21 a month
Total cost when only Sky Movies 1 is added
£46.50 and includes a phone line
£37 a month and includes Sky Movies 2
Total cost when only Sky Movies 2 is added
£46.50 and includes a phone line
£37 a month and includes Sky Movies 2
Total cost for both Sky Movies 1 and 2
£49.50 and includes a phone line
£37 a month
Before you sign up to your chosen digital TV provider, why not check out the best packages for Sports or Kids or do a Postcode search to see what’s available in your area.
