Digital TV Guides

Three top reasons to choose Sky TV

Updated: Tuesday 3 April, 2012

By Editorial

Are you umm-ing and ahh-ing over a digital TV package? If you want plenty of channels, exclusive content and award-winning service, Sky’s satellite TV may be just the ticket…

Sky (www.sky.co.uk), Britain’s largest satellite TV provider, is the television service of choice for more than 10 million homes around the country. But why are consumers choosing Sky over other digital TV providers like Virgin Media and BT Vision? Read our top three reasons why Sky might be a great option for your living room:

1. More channels, more choice

When it comes to channels, you’re spoilt for choice with Sky. Whether you’re looking for cookery programmes, animal documentaries, your favourite footie team’s fixtures or a blockbuster film, Sky has it all covered.

• Sky Entertainment - This includes all the entertainment, style & culture channels, including Sky1, Sky Atlantic and Sky Living, Dave, Watch, GOLD and Comedy Central
• Sky Extra - This second option gives you everything from entertainment to documentaries and kid's programmes to music channels

TV prices start from just £20 a month for the Sky Entertainment, and go up to £25 for the Sky Extra.

In addition to these these two viewing packs, you can add premium movie and/or sports channels to your subscription, for a little extra each month. This allows you to create a tailor-made TV package to suit your household needs. And if you’re a fan of a particular football team, you can even subscribe to their channel, so you can watch special behind-the-scenes action from Old Trafford, the Emirates or Stamford Bridge.

For homes with a HD ready TV, there’s even more choice, with up to 54 high-definition channels to tune in to. Some of these channels, such as Sky Atlantic HD and Eden HD, are exclusive to Sky, so can’t be received through other digital TV services.

TV packages from Sky start from as little as £20 a month, going up to £52 for Sky’s ultimate package, Sky World, which gives you free access to the 3D channel when you also take the HD pack for an extra £10.25 a month.

2. Exclusive content in SD, HD and 3D

Sky has recently made some land-grabbing moves that could help sway your decision to choose Sky over other digital TV providers.

As well as its deal with FIFA to show exclusive Barclays Premier League matches, the satellite TV giant has also secured the rights to broadcast top US drama series long before they’re shown on terrestrial Freeview channels, so signing up to a Sky TV package could be the only way you’ll be able to watch your favourite shows.

When it launches, Sky’s new channel - Sky Atlantic HD - will be the only place you can watch new episodes of your favourite American HBO series, including season five of Mad Men, and the new Scorsese-directed Prohibition-era drama Boardwalk Empire, starring Steve Buscemi.

Sky Atlantic will have exclusive rights to series five of Mad Men

The channel, which is exclusive to Sky, will be available in both standard and high-definition, however won’t be available to Virgin Media or BT Vision subscribers.

Beef-up your TV with 3D

And, if you’re lucky enough to own a 3D ready TV, transforming your living room into a cinema is easy with a subscription to the Sky World package and the HD pack. As well as all the available TV channels and the HD channels, you’ll also get the Sky 3D channel.

As Europe’s first 3D TV channel, Sky has taken TV subscriptions one step further by offering exclusive 3D films, documentaries and sports coverage to those with 3D TVs. The 3D channel offers hours of entertainment to those that take the Sky World package, including:

• 3D sports - Watch live Ryder Cup coverage, selected Barclays Premier League matches, rugby, darts and cricket in mind-blowing 3D
• 3D films - You’ll never be short of something to watch with films like Alice In Wonderland, My Bloody Valentine, Avatar and Toy Story 3
• 3D documentaries - Bring the outside in with 3D documentaries on dinosaurs, bugs and penguins.

Both Virgin Media and BT Vision do have 3D offerings, however these are nowhere near as comprehensive as Sky’s, so this could be a reason for opting for a Sky TV subscription.

3. Award-winning Sky+HD box

If you’re looking for the best in digital TV hardware, the Sky+HD box is hard to beat. The high-definition service from Sky even won the “Raising The Bar” accolade at the Royal Television Society’s Innovation Awards in 2007, for “introducing a technology which set a new ‘gold standard’ of expectations.”

The box itself is sleek, sexy and looks great under any TV. Its ability to pause, rewind and record “live” TV means you’ll be able to answer the phone without missing a minute of your favourite show, or fast-forward through the adverts of a film you’ve recorded.

But that’s not all the Sky+HD box offers. The Sky+HD box now comes as standard when you sign-up to Sky, and unlike other providers’ standard set-top boxes, Sky+HD can:

• Record anytime, anywhere - The box can be programmed to record remotely, either online or using your mobile phone
• Record what you want - Record shows on two different channels while watching a third, or press Series Link to record a whole series
• Record more - A Sky+HD box can store an average of 60 hours of HD or 185 hours of standard definition content.

If you take Sky’s broadband service as well, your Sky+HD box can be connected to your router to give you access to 1,000s of hours of on-demand TV through the Sky Anytime+ menu.

To get the most from your Sky+HD box it must be connected to a HD ready TV with a HDMI cable - these aren’t supplied by Sky, but cost as little as £10. You should also sign-up for the Sky HD pack, in order to watch the high-definition channels. This costs an extra £10.25 a month on top of your standard Sky subscription.

Choosing a digital TV package

Of course, Sky isn’t the only option when it comes to digital TV packages - both Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) and BT Vision (www.btvision.bt.com) offer great services, with on-demand TV, 3D content and the option to bundle your services to save money on your TV, phone and broadband bills.

It’s important that you evaluate all the providers available in your area, and choose the one that best suits your needs and your budget. Use the postcode checker on Digitalchoices.co.uk to compare packages and prices, then sign-up online to get the cheapest deal.