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What’s the cheapest way to watch the Premier League?

Dear David, thanks for your email about watching the Barclays Premier League.

The 2010/11 season is due to start in August, with the first match kicking off between Tottenham and Manchester City on Saturday 14 August, played at White Hart Lane. The game, similar to at least 115 other games from the tournament, will be broadcast live on Sky Sports. Rival sports broadcaster ESPN has the rights to exclusively show a further 23 games live.

So, in order to watch all your team’s fixtures, you will need a subscription to ESPN, as well as Sky Sports 1 and 2. These channels are available from all three of the UK’s biggest digital TV providers, but which one offers the best deal for you?

Read my breakdown below to find out more about Sky Sports bundles and subscriptions with Sky, Virgin Media and BT Vision…

Watch the Premier League on Sky

Sky (www.sky.com), the UK’s biggest satellite TV provider, has been at the forefront of sports broadcasting since 1992 when it launched its first Sky Sports channel. It now offers a whole host of sports on its four dedicated sports channels - Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 and 4 - and also broadcasts the Sky Sports News channel, which shows sporting highlights from across all four channels.

Anyone looking the ultimate satellite TV sports bundle should consider Sky. Sign-up for broadband with speeds of up to 20Mb, free evening and weekend landline calls and satellite TV with the Sky Sports Pack and ESPN from £56 a month.

You’ll get all four of the Sky Sports channels and ESPN, so you’ll never miss a game. You’ll also be able to watch Sky Sports News, and if you have a subscription to the Sky Player, you’ll be able to watch Sky Sports on any computer.

Click on the table below to find out more about Sky and its Sky Sports packages:

Watch the Premier League on Virgin Media

Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) is the UK’s only cable TV provider, and is currently in over 3.7 million homes around the country. Its TV packages come in three sizes: M+, L and XL. These TV deals can be bundled with a cable phone line and superfast cable broadband.

Cable customers with Virgin Media can now add the Sky Sports Collection to their TV package for £20.50 extra a month. The Sky Sports collection includes Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 and 4, but not ESPN.

To watch every game you’ll also need ESPN, which is available for an additional £8 a month for Size M+ and L TV subscribers, or is free in the Size: XL TV package.

Click on the table below to find out more about Virgin Media TV and the sports channels it offers:

Watch the Premier League on BT Vision

BT Vision (www.btvision.bt.com), the internet TV (IPTV) service from telecoms giant BT, now offers the cheapest way to watch all the action of the Premier League.

You can now sign-up for a BT phone and broadband bundle, adding BT Vision for just £17.99 extra a month. You can then get either Sky Sports 1 or 2 individually for just £6.99 a month, or pay £11.99 a month for the “total sports pack”, which offers Sky Sports 1 and 2, as well as ESPN and a range of on-demand sports programmes.

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 is free with BT Vision, but does require a one-off payment of £9.99 for a viewing card.

Click on the table below to find out more about BT TV and its Sky Sports pricing:

I hope this helps David. Be sure to compare prices using our online digital TV comparison service, and then sign-up online. And remember to allow enough time for installation if you’re having a new service installed - you don’t want to miss the start of the season!

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If you have a general switching or provider query please email us at ourexpert@digitalchoices.co.uk

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