Ask our Expert

Can I get Virgin TV without a cable phone line?

Our digital TV expert says...

Dear Stephen, thanks for your query about getting a cable TV service. If you’re tied into a contract for your phone and broadband, it’s understandable that you won’t want to pay any exit penalties to switch to a cable phone line.

The good news is that, if you live in an area that can receive Virgin cable services, you can get Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) cable TV without taking a Virgin phone line. The bad news, however, is that the service is a bit more expensive if you don’t take the TV, phone and broadband bundled package. Below is a breakdown of monthly subscription costs, installation costs and the channels you’ll receive…

Virgin Media Size M+ TV without a cable phone line

Virgin Media’s cheapest cable TV package is called Size M+ (www.virginmedia.com). Without taking a cable phone line, it costs just £12.50 a month. With the M+ deal, you’ll get:

• 65 digital TV channels, including all free-to-view terrestrial channels and the likes of Film4, Sky1, BBC3 and E4.
• Free Catch Up TV - You can catch-up on the last 7 days’ of your favourite programmes from the BBC, Channel 4, ITV and more.
• A huge choice of pay-per-view films, shows and music videos available on-demand.

You’ll get the standard V Box set-top box for free when you subscribe, but if you want to get a V HD box (so you can watch Virgin Media’s high-definition channels), you can get this for a one-off cost of £49. However, it’s important to note that with the smaller M+ TV package, you’ll only get the free-to-view HD channels, such as BBC HD and ITV HD, which are also available on Freeview.

When it comes to installation, you’ll pay a one-off cost of £40 for an engineer to visit your home and fix up the TV service. If there is already a cable connection in your home however, contact Virgin Media’s customer services as you may be eligible for the “Quick Start” self installation option. This only costs £15 - just ask Virgin Media about it when signing up.

Virgin Media Size L TV without a cable phone line

If you’re looking for a bit more from your cable TV service, you can take the Size L (www.virginmedia.com) package for £17.25 a month. With the L deal, you’ll get:

• 100 digital TV channels, including all those in M+ package, as well as VH1, Animal Planet and the SyFy channel.
• Free Catch Up TV - You can catch-up on the last 7 days’ of your favourite programmes from the BBC, Channel 4, ITV and more.
• A huge choice of pay-per-view films, shows and music videos available on-demand.

Like the M+ package, you’ll get the standard V Box set-top box for free when you subscribe, but can upgrade to the V HD box for £49.

Installation costs are also the same - you’ll pay a one-of cost of £40 for an engineer to visit your home and install the cable TV. “Quick Start” self installation may be available for £15 however - just contact Virgin Media’s customer services to see if you’re eligible.

Virgin Media Size XL TV without a cable phone line

The Size XL (www.virginmedia.com) package gives you the most channels, and costs £29.50 a month when you don’t take a Virgin Media cable phone line. With this deal, you’ll get:

• 160 channels, including all those in L package, and Discovery, Disney and MTV.
• All of Virgin’s HD channels, for no extra cost. These include Film4 HD, ESPN HD and National Geographic HD.
• Free Catch Up TV - You can catch-up on the last 7 days’ of your favourite programmes from the BBC, Channel 4, ITV and more.
• The TV Choice On Demand service, which lets you watch thousands of your favourite shows and series, when you want to watch them on-demand.
• A huge choice of pay-per-view films, shows and music videos available on-demand.

The V Box set-top box comes as standard, however to watch the high-definition channels, you should upgrade to the V HD box for an extra one-off cost of £49.

Again, installation costs of £40 if an engineer needs to visit your home and install the cable TV, though the “Quick Start” self installation may be available for £15.

Get additional TV channels with Virgin Media

If you’re looking for additional channels, Virgin Media does offer packs that you can add to your subscription, ranging in price from £5 to £37, depending on the package you have and the extra channels you want.

You can take sports channels, film channels, Asian channels and kids' channels.

I hope this gives you a bit more information about getting Virgin Media TV without taking a cable phone line Stephen. And when you’re broadband and home phone contracts come to an end, remember to compare prices for bundled packages, as you may be able to save money on your bills by switching all your services to Virgin Media.

Ask us a question

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

Comments