Digital TV Providers

Top Up TV

By Becca Talbot - becca@consumerchoices.co.uk

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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. (Updated on 29/12/09)

Top Up TV (www.topup.tv) is a digital TV service that offers extra pay-per-view channels as well as the Freeview line-up.

It 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.

At the end of 2006, Top Up TV began scaling down the broadcast of these live channels, moving to a new service called Top Up TV Anytime or Top Up TV+.

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What is Top Up TV?

Top Up TV+ is a subscription service that allows Freeview customers to access programmes from selected pay-to view channels. The programmes are updated over night via the TV aerial and stored in the Top Up TV+ digital TV recorder (PVR).

All Top Up TV customers are being moved to the new Top Up TV+ service and new customers can only subscribe to this service. Top Up TV+ allows users to record, pause and rewind “live” Freeview TV, similar to the functionality of Sky+. Top Up TV+ also gives users the option of deleting channels they don’t want, freeing up more recording space on the PVR.

Why should I get Top Up TV?

Top Up TV+ allows you to enjoy all the channels you get with Freeview, as well programming from a selection of satellite TV and cable TV channels, without having to have any expensive equipment installed. It’s a great option for anyone living in a listed building.

Different from the standard Freeview+ PVR set-top box, Top Up TV lets you add any (or all) of the Top Up TV viewing packs to your service. These viewing packs include:

• TV Favourites - Includes back to back episodes of popular shows like Life on Mars, Little Britain, Lost, Law & Order, Frasier, Sex and the City and Hannah Montana
• PictureBox Films - Each month you‘ll have the pick of 28 films, from all genres
• ESPN - Shows 46 live and exclusive Barclays Premier League games, plus 30 Clydesdale Bank matches for the 2009/10 season, the German, Russian, Dutch and Portuguese League Football, Major League Soccer, UFC and more.

You get one-touch recording, parental controls and can watch one channel while recording another.

What do I need for Top Up TV?

When you sign-up, Top Up TV+ will send you a new PVR which also acts as a set-top box so you can continue to receive Freeview, and receive your nightly top-ups. Once you receive it, it’s simple to set-up and uses your rooftop aerial to receive programmes.

To get the Top Up TV Anytime service, you’ll need to buy a special TopUp TV Anytime set-top box, which will cost around £40. These can be ordered online directly from www.topuptv.com, or from retailers such as from Argos and Amazon.

Prices of the viewing packs vary and will depend on how many and which packs you take.

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.

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