Digital TV Guides

Sports TV packages and channels

Updated: Thursday 8 December, 2011

By Anthony Hill - anthony.hill@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, rugby or cricket fan, we’ve got the perfect deal for you.

All digital TV providers in the UK offer some sports channels, but if you love watching sports on TV or are a fan of a particular sport, it is worth comparing packages and choosing one that’s going to suit you.

Our 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.

Compare sports TV packages

TV packages		TV packages with Sky Sports
from £12.50 a month 1/2 price for 6 months + £25 M&S voucher + FREE installation	from £10.00 a month* + FREE V HD Box + FREE installation + £60 off your bill	from £22.50 a month 1/2 price for 6 months + £25 M&S voucher + FREE installation	from £48.90 a month** + FREE V HD Box + £60 off your bill
Online exclusive Sky TV - Sky entertainment extra pack 2GB download limit Up to 14Mb speed FREE UK eve & wkend calls	M+ TV - 75 channels Up to 30Mb speed Unlimited downloads FREE UK wkend calls and calls to Virgin mobiles	Online exclusive Sky Sports 1, 2, 3, 4 & Sky Sports news Sky TV - Sky entertainment extra 2GB download limit Up to 14Mb speed FREE UK eve & wkend calls	Online exclusive Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 & 4 M+ TV - 75 channels Up to 30Mb speed Unlimited downloads FREE UK wkend calls and calls to Virgin mobiles
Visit Sky.com or call 08442 410582	Visit VirginMedia.com	Visit Sky.com or call 08442 410582	Visit VirginMedia.com

* £10.00 a month for the first 6 months, then £25 a month
** £48.90 a month for the first 6 months then £61.40

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. The digital TV provider has over 10 million customers around the UK, of which over 3 million have its Sky+HD high-definition service.

Sky’s main channels are divided into “viewing packs”, with the first pack costing £19.50 a month, and each subsequent pack costing an additional £1. So, taking the Variety, Knowledge and Music packs would cost you £21.50 a month. Sky’s premium sports channels are also available through the Sky Sports pack, but this costs more.

If there’s a particular sports channel you’re looking for, have a look at the table below to find out if Sky offers it, how much it’ll cost and what pack it is included in:

Sky pack	Channels	Which sports does it show?	Monthly cost
Sky Sports pack	Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 2, Sky Sports 3, Sky Sports 4, Sky Sports News	115 live Barclays Premier League games, UEFA Champions League football, Rugby Union, US PGA golf, cricket, tennis, boxing and NFL	£20.25
Sky Sports pack + ESPN	Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 2, Sky Sports 3, Sky Sports 4, Sky Sports News, ESPN, ESPN America	All of the above, plus 23 additional live Barclays Premier League games and 30 additional SPL matches, baseball, basketball and ice hockey	£29.25
News & Events pack	12 channels, including Sky Sports News, Eurosport, At The Races, Eurosport 2, ESPN Classic, Motors TV, Extreme Sports Channel, Real Madrid TV	Le Mans 24 Hour, World Superbikes, snowboarding, surfing, mountain-biking, in-line skating, BMXing, and French Open tennis	£19.50 (or £1 extra a month if this is not your first pack)

And if you’re looking for even more sports, Sky offers both Manchester United TV and Chelsea TV as standalone channels for an extra £6 a month. You can also subscribe to ESPN as a standalone channel, if you don’t fancy taking the Sky Sports pack, for just £12 a month.

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 over 3.7 million TV subscribers, many of whom bundle their digital TV with their home phone and broadband.

This is the most cost effective way of getting Virgin TV, and triple-play bundles cost from £20 a month, plus £12.99 a month cable phone line rental.

Virgin Media offers three TV packages. The sports channels available with each are:

TV package	Number of channels	Sports channels included
M+	65+	At The Races, Eurosport, Eurosport 2, Sky Sports News
L	100+	Those in the M+ package listed above, plus Extreme Sports
XL	165+	Those in the M+ and L packages listed above, and Eurosport HD, ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN Classic, ESPN America, Liverpool TV and Motors TV

Virgin Media customers can add more sports channels to their package; however these will cost extra. You can add the Manchester Utd TV channel to any package for just £6 a month, or Racing UK, for horse racing enthusiasts, for £20 a month.

Virgin Media also offers the Sky Sports channels individually, though the best way to get these is to take Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the Sky Sports Collection. There is a significant cost saving - individually each channel costs from £14.50 a month, but if you take the Sky Sports Collection, prices start from £22.50 a month for all four channels.

If you’re a M+ or L subscriber, you can also add the ESPN channels, which includes ESPN HD and ESPN Classic, for £8 a month (or £6 a month if you also subscribe to the Sky Sports pack).

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

Sport on BT Vision

If your broadband and home phone services are supplied by BT, it may be worth subscribing to BT’s TV service too. BT Vision (www.btvision.bt.com) is an internet-TV (IPTV) service that is in more than half a million homes in the UK. It is only available to customers that have BT Total Broadband.

BT TV shows sports programmes, matches, fixtures and highlights on-demand, for customers to watch when they choose. On-demand sports are available in the Sport viewing pack, which costs £4.99 a month. You can also pay-per-view for certain matches and fixtures, with prices starting from 50p.

Sky Sports on BT Vision? - You can now get Sky Sports on BT Vision. Add either Sky Sports 1 or 2 to your subscription individually for just £12.90 a month, or pay £18.20 a month for both Sky Sports 1 and 2.

Remember, if you want to watch every Premier League match, you will need a subscription to ESPN, as 23 of the live games will be shown on ESPN, with the rest being shown on Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2.

ESPN will also broadcast 30 Scottish Premier League games, live Nationwide Conference games and other European football Leagues. There is also access to PGA golf and many other sporting events. The ESPN channel is available as a standalone channel, and comes with no monthly subscription. As long as you have a monthly subscription to at least one viewing pack, you can pay just £10 for a viewing card and you’ll have access to ESPN for 12 months at no extra cost.

Football TV channels

Several of the large UK football clubs, including Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal, have dedicated TV channels. These show live matches, exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes footage from the dressing rooms and training grounds. For more information, read our guides on:

• Man Utd TV
• Liverpool FC TV
• Arsenal TV
• Chelsea TV
• Aston Villa TV