Digital TV Guides

Standalone digital TV

By Becca Talbot

If you feel that a bundled digital TV, broadband and home phone package isn’t for you, you may want a standalone TV service. Here are your options… (Updated 22/02/12)

Bundling digital TV with broadband, telephone or both is now common practice - according to communications regulator Ofcom, around 44% of us now take advantage of the savings and convenience bundles offer.

However, while you might get a great TV package with a bundle, the broadband you receive as part of your package might not be the best, and the cost of making calls could eat into any savings you’ve made bagging a bundle in the first place.

Here Digitalchoices.co.uk offers you advice on how to ditch your bundle if it’s not doing the business without sacrificing your favourite digital TV channels.

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Who offers digital TV?

There are a number of different digital TV providers, including Freeview (www.freeview.co.uk), Freesat and Top Up TV (www.topup.tv). None of these providers require you to commit to a lengthy contract or to take any other service.

Sky (www.sky.com) offers a satellite TV service that, as well as giving you access to free-to-air channels, also offers at least 40 satellite channels (although some of these overlap), depending on what package you choose. You can also add premium channel packages, such as Sky Movies and Sky Sports, and upgrade to high-definition or 3D TV. While the service requires you to commit to a contract, you won’t need to take up any other Sky product to get it.

Cable TV provider Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) also offer a standalone subscription digital TV package, although the package itself costs less when taken with a Virgin Media phone line. The entry-level package gives you access to free-to-air and free-to-view channels, plus 20-odd extra channels, including the likes of Sky1 and Sky Living. It includes a TV catch-up service and, as with Sky TV, Virgin Media customers can also add premium channel packages.

BT offers digital TV via BT Vision (www.btvision.bt.com), but this is not available on its own - only BT broadband customers are able to sign-up to it. BT Vision allows you to watch thefree-to-air and free-to-view programmes available in your area, see what you’ve missed using catch-up TV services, add premium channel packages and watch movies and programmes on-demand on a pay-per-view basis.

Why should I go for digital TV on its own?

If you have taken a bundle to save you money or make things more convenient, some aspect of the service you are getting may have been reduced or removed to make the package cost-effective. This may mean you are not getting what you need from a bit of your bundle that is important to you - maybe you are paying over the odds for your phone calls or getting broadband that isn’t as fast as you need.

If you won’t be using all of these services in equal measure then it might not be essential to you that you’re getting as much as you can for your money from each one. However, if they’re all of equal importance you might want to consider getting each service from a separate provider that specialises in that area.

Broadband quality

The quality of the broadband that you get as part of a bundle varies will depend on which provider and package you go with, as well as where you live. It’s not just speed and download limit that you need to take into account when assessing broadband quality though - you also need to think about the kind of customer service and technical support that you’ll get from a provider.

For example, the cheapest standalone BT broadband (www.bt.com) - although you can only get it in conjunction with a BT landline - bests that offered by some broadband, TV and telephone bundles, giving users speeds of up to 20Mb and a download limit of 10GB.

In comparison, the cheapest triple-play bundle from Sky, which costs around 25% more, also offers broadband with speeds of up to 20Mb, but with a relatively small download limit of 2GB. Virgin Media’s cheapest bundle - which costs around the same as Sky’s - provides broadband that has unlimited downloads - subject to an acceptable use policy and traffic management - but only goes up to 10Mb in terms of speed.

However, you might want to go for a smaller provider that specialises in broadband and has a dedicated customer service and technical support team for its broadband customers. The likes of Madasafish (www.madasafish.com) and Eclipse (www.eclipse.net.uk) offer competitively priced standalone broadband with good service and support - both ranked highly in terms of technical support in consumer champion Which?’s recent broadband customer satisfaction survey.

Taking your broadband separately also means you could sign-up to a provider like Be (www.bethere.co.uk) and get near-superfast broadband speeds of up to 24Mb, although speeds equal to and exceeding this are now often available as part of a bundle.

Home phone charges

Getting your home phone as part of a bundle means you might not get the best value call charges, so you should compare bundle prices against the cost of getting you phone line from an independent provider.

You can compare home phone packages with a comparison website likeHomephonechoices.co.uk.

Who does standalone digital TV?

If you decide to go for separate providers to get your digital TV and other services, then you won’t have the entire digital TV range to choose from; some providers, like BT, won’t supply digital TV unless you sign-up to other products they offer.

In terms of pay TV, that leaves Sky and Virgin Media as your two choices. If you’re thinking about subscription-free TV, you can choose between Freeview, Freesat and Freesat from Sky, plus add-on Top Up TV.

• Sky - If you go for Sky, you choose how many channels you want to watch by choosing between two “packs”, but you don’t have to take any other service from them. You also have the option of adding Sky Movies, Sky Sports or even ESPN for an additional cost.
• Virgin Media - As with Sky, you can sign-up to Virgin Media’s digital TV service without having to subscribe to any of the providers other services. However, as mentioned earlier, it actually costs less to take Virgin Media TV with a Virgin Media phone line than without - not including the line rental of course. Only Virgin Media’s basic TV package is available on its own, which limits you to 75 channels, but, as with Sky, you can also add premium movie and sports channels.
• Freeview - Freeview will give you over 50 free-to-air channels without you having to commit to a contract or pay a monthly subscription fee. All it will cost you is the one-off expense of a Freeview set-top box or, if you’re feeling flush, a new TV with a Freeview receiver built-in. If you do want more than the basic channels that you’ll get, you can add films, sports and TV shows through Top Up TV for a monthly cost, but without having to commit to a contract.
• Freesat - If you live in an area yet to be reached by the digital switchover - use the Digitalchoices.co.uk Freeview postcode checker to find out if that’s the case - or simply want more channels than Freeview can offer, then you might want to opt for Freesat. This is a satellite TV service, so you will need to get a satellite dish installed (which may not be possible if you live in listed or rented property) if you choose this option. As with Freeview, there is no contract and only a one-off cost - that of a Freesat set-top box or Freesat-ready TV and getting the satellite dish installed. With Freesat you’ll get the 50-plus channels you get with Freeview and up to 100 more. You can also add movies, sport and other TV shows through Top Up TV.
• Freesat from Sky - Freesat’s 150-plus channels not enough for you? Then maybe the 240-plus channels offered by Freesat from Sky will meet your needs. Despite it being supplied by a pay TV provider, Freesat from Sky works the same way as Freeview and Freesat - you pay a one-off price for the Sky HD box, mini-dish, viewing card and installation. There is no annual contract and, if you think you might want to opt for full-on Sky at a later date, it’s easy to upgrade.

Do a postcode search to see what standalone digital TV services are available in your area, and read more about each digital TV provider to find out what else they offer.

I want a TV bundle

If you have decided that you do want to bundle your TV, phone and broadband, you need to think about your priorities and how you’ll use each service as this will help you pick the provider and package that’s best for you - read more about digital triple-play bundles to see what’s on offer.