Digital TV Guides

Sports TV packages and channels

Updated: Thursday 27 September, 2012

By Kelvin Goodson - kelvin.goodson@consumerchoices.co.uk

Want a digital TV package that offers plenty of sports channels but doesn’t cost the earth? Whether you’re a football, Formula One, cricket, golf or rugby fan, there will be a deal that suits you.

Most digital TV providers in the UK offer some sports channels, but if you’re a fan of a particular sport or just addicted to watching sport on TV it is worth comparing packages and choosing one that’s going to give you what you want.

The Digitalchoices.co.uk guide to sports TV packages outlines some of the different deals available from the UK’s biggest TV providers, so you can choose one that’s right for you and make sure the latest sporting action is never more than the push of a button away.

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Video: Finding the best sports TV package

Sky sports TV packages

Satellite TV giant Sky (www.sky.com) offers the widest choice of sports channels and is at the forefront of original sports broadcasting. Theprovider has over 10 million customers around the UK, of which over four million subscribe to its Sky+HD high-definition (HD) service.

Sky’s main channels are divided into packs. The Sky Entertainment Pack comes with all Sky TV packages as standard for a monthly fee. Sky’s six dedicated sports channels are also available as a pack - the Sky Sports Pack, which you pay for monthly on top of your basic monthly subscription fee.

If there’s a particular sport, competition or sports channel you’re looking for, the table below will tell you if Sky offers it, how much it’ll cost and what pack it is included in:

If you support one of the Barclays Premier League’s leading clubs, you can get even more football through Sky. The provider Sky offers both Manchester United’s MUTV and Chelsea TV as standalone channels for a few pounds extra a month. You can also subscribe to ESPN as a standalone channel if you don’t want the Sky Sports Pack, although it costs a little more each month than it does when taken with the pack.

You can find out more about Sky’s sports channels at www.sky.com.

Virgin Media sports TV packages

Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) is the UK’s biggest cable TV provider with almost 3.8 million TV subscribers, many of whom bundle their digital TV with their home phone and broadband. This is a cost-effective way of getting Virgin Media TV as triple-play bundles will often save you money over subscribing to digital TV, home phone, line rental and broadband separately.

Virgin Media offers three TV packages - M+, L and XL. The sports channels available with package are:

Virgin Media customers can add more sports channels to their package by paying an extra monthly fee. You can add MUTV to any package for just a few quid extra a month. Boxing channel BoxNation and Racing UK, for horse racing enthusiasts, will set you back a bit more each month.

Virgin Media also offers the Sky Sports channels as extras. You can subscribe to Sky Sports 1 and/or Sky Sports 2 individually or you can take Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 and 4 and Sky Sports F1 together as the Sky Sports Collection. Taking the Sky Sports Collection will actually cost you less each month than subscribing to both Sky Sports 1 and 2 individually, even though it gives you three extra channels.

If you’re a Virgin Media TV M+ or L subscriber you can also add the ESPN pack, which includes ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN America and ESPN Classic, to your package for a relatively small extra cost each month. The ESPN pack costs slightly less if you also subscribe to Sky Sports.

Find out more about Virgin’s sports channels at www.virginmedia.com.

BT Vision sports TV packages

If your broadband and home phone services are supplied by BT, it may be worth considering subscribing to the telecom giants digital TV service too. BT Vision (www.btvision.bt.com) is a hybrid digital TV service. While the regular channels are delivered via set-top box as with Freeview, its on-demand service is delivered over the internet. As such, BT Vision is only available to those that have BT broadband, yet over 700,000 now subscribe to it.

BT shows sports news, international football friendlies, live boxing, motorsports, extreme sports and archive highlights via its on-demand sports service Vision Sport, allowing you to watch what you want, when you want. Vision Sport is included with the TV Unlimited package, while programmes are available on a pay-per-view basis to those with the TV Essential package, with prices starting at just a few pence per programme.

As with Virgin Media’s TV packages, you can add Sky Sports to your BT Vision subscription. You can add either Sky Sports 1 or 2 to your subscription individually for an extra monthly fee or together at a discounted rate on the individual monthly cost.

However, the Sky Sports channels are only available to BT Vision customers living in an area covered by BT Infinity broadband. You can find out if you're eligible to receive Sky Sports via BT Vision by visiting www.btvision.bt.com.

If you’re a football fanatic and want to be able to watch every Barclays Premier League match that’s televised live over the course of the 2012/2013 season, you will need ESPN, as 23 of the live games will be shown on the channel, with the rest being shown on Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2.

ESPN will also broadcast FA Cup, UEFA Europa League, Scottish Premier League, Serie A, MLS and AFL football. It also broadcasts J.P. Morgan Asset Management Premiership Rugby 7s and Top 14 rugby, ATP World Tour 250 tennis, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, NBA basketball and Major League Baseball. ESPN is included with the TV Unlimited package but is not available to those with the TV Essential package.

BT Vision recently obtained the rights to show 38 Barclays Premier League matches live in the 2013/2014 season and the season after, with the provider getting first choice pick for 18 of those matches a season, including first choice from the opening games each season. BT Vision is expected to launch a new football-focused channel to screen the matches.

Football club TV channels

Several of the leading Barclays Premier League football clubs, such as Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal, have their own dedicated TV channels. These show news, exclusive interviews, transfer gossip, charity events, highlights and reruns of recent matches, matches from the archives and series focusing on club greats. For more information, read the Digitalchoices.co.uk guides on:

• MUTV
• LFC TV
• ArsenalTV Online
• Chelsea TV
• AVTV