Digital TV Providers

Top Up TV

Updated: Wednesday 4 April, 2012

By Editorial

Available to Freeview customers, Top Up TV gives greater choice without having to pay excessive fees for a programmes you don’t want or watch.

Top Up TV (www.topup.tv) is a digital TV service that offers on demand content from pay channels, as well live premium sports channels.

The service launched in March 2004, offering customers 10 channels that weren’t available via Freeview through a subscription. These channels included UK Style, Eurosport, UKTV Gold, TCM, Discovery, Cartoon Network, UK Food, Bloomberg, Toonami and Boomerang.

Since then, it’s focus has shifted more towards on demand content. Now, Top Up TV offers a wide range of on demand TV and film each week, as well as sports through Sky Sports 1 and 2 and ESPN.

What is Top Up TV?

Top Up TV allows Freeview customers to access programmes from selected pay-to view channels. The programmes are updated overnight via the TV aerial and stored in a digital TV recorder (DTR), which also lets you watch, record, pause and rewind standard Freeview channels.

You can also get access to a selection broad selection of 28 hit movies each month through Top Up TV’s Picture Box service.

Plus sports fans can watch live coverage of their favourite events through through Sky Sports 1 and 2 and ESPN.

If you own a compatible digital television, you will also be able to get access to Sky Sports channels and ESPN without a set top box. To do so, you need a CI+ CAM adapter - a small card that fits into a slot on the TV.

Why should I get Top Up TV?

Top UP TV extends your standard Freeview channels with a selection of on demand programming from satellite TV and cable TV.

Top Up TV offers a number of viewing packs, covering TV, film and sport. These include:

• TV Favourites - Provides a wide library of comedy, drama and factual programming for both adults and children. Subscribers will have access to shows from the US as well as the UK, with whole series often available.
• PictureBox Films - Each month you‘ll have the pick of 28 films, from all genres
• ESPN - Shows exclusive Barclays Premier League games, in addition to a wide range of other sporting events
• Sky Sports 1 and 2 - Shows dozens of sports, including Premiership and Champions League football, rugby league, cricket and more.

With a DTR, you also get the ability to pause, rewind and record all standard Freeview channels, as well as the extra Top Up TV content.

What do I need for Top Up TV?

To get the Top Up TV Anytime service, you’ll need to buy a special set-top box. These can be ordered online directly from www.topuptv.com, or from retailers such as from Argos and Amazon.

Alternatively, you can get Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 2 and ESPN by with a CI+ adapter - a small card that slots into compatible TVs and some set top boxes. Most modern TVs support this feature.

Prices of the viewing packs vary and you will receive discounts for taking multiple packs.

To compare Top Up TV against other digital TV suppliers click here, or for a breakdown of what you get with their package, use our price comparison calculator.