Digital TV Guides

Cable TV

Article updated: Monday 15 June, 2009

editorial@consumerchoices.co.uk

Cable TV is a digital TV services offering more channels than the free-to-view digital TV service Freeview, but less channels that the competing satellite TV service supplied by Sky TV.

Digital cable television is delivered to your TV via a fibre optic cable. The signal is then unscrambled with a set-top box allowing you to watch all the Freeview channels, all the channels within your subscription package and a host of free and paid-for on-demand programmes and films. There are also loads of digital-only radio stations and interactive services such as email and shopping through your TV.

98% of the country currently has at least one television but the government wants to make sure that everyone has access to digital services. The government’s digital rollout, where individual ITV regions are due to have their analogue signal switched off and replaced by a digital one is due to be completed in 2012, by which time everyone will have to have switched to digital or they will lose their TV signal (DTI, 2006).

What is cable digital TV?

Virgin Media TV packages

Package Name	Price	Channels
Virgin Media TV: M	£0.00	45 great channels, including Dave, Virgin 1, E4, ITV2, Film 4, BBC3 and loads more
Virgin Media TV: L	£10.00	100 great channels, including Sky1, LIVINGtv, Bravo, Discovery Channel and stacks more
Virgin Media TV: XL	£21.50	160 great channels, including Sky1, LIVINGtv, Bravo, Discovery Channel, NickToons, The Disney Channel, FX, Comedy Central more
Virgin Media TV: L + Broadband: L + Phone: M	£24.00	100 great channels, including Sky1, LIVINGtv, Bravo, Discovery Channel and stacks more

Last Updated: Friday, 12-June-2009

Is it just TV?

No, you can also get your broadband and home telephone through your cable connection. You can get them bundled, or you can choose to have any of these services separately.

Who does it?

The major supplier of cable services is Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) formerly ntl:Telewest.

What’s so good about it?

One of the great things about cable is that if you need a broadband connection but don’t want to pay BT for your phone line, then cable is the perfect answer as you don’t need an ADSL line to receive your broadband so essentially only pay the internet fee.

They also offer cheap digital television packages. Having a digital TV connection means that you won’t have any problems when the Government switches off the old analogue signal in your area, and you’ll also have a perfect picture without interference or the need for an aerial.

Any drawbacks?

Because it’s delivered via cables that run through the ground into your home, you need to live in a cable area. You can check if Virgin Media cable services are available using their website. A technician will have to visit your home to install equipment and there may be a charge for this.

If you decide to get your home telephone via cable too then you should compare the costs of doing this. While the base rate might be competitive, Virgin Media’s call charges aren’t as great, so take this into consideration before signing up.

Also, if you do switch to cable but then decide that you want an ADSL line again, BT will charge you a £125 reconnection fee.

Is it right for me?

If you think that a cable connection would suit you, do a search using our calculator to see what options are available, for a detailed breakdown of all the costs, or to sign up.