Digital TV Guides

Digital TV providers overview

By Becca Talbot - becca@consumerchoices.co.uk

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In order to carry on watching our favourite TV programmes, everyone will have to switch to digital after the switchover, and there are plenty of options to choose from... (Updated 10/12/09)

Here’s a quick breakdown of each digital TV provider available:

Virgin TV + Phone + Broadband Over 100 channels Up to 10Mb broadband Only £23.50 a month

Sky TV + Freetime + Broadband 1 Sky TV pack + Sky+HD box Base broadband + Talk Freetime From just £18.00 a month

Freeview

Freeview is the cheapest way to go digital. You can make the switch simply by buying a set-top box, or if you need a new TV you could get a digital integrated television with Freeview built-in. Set-top boxes start at around £20.

If you don’t want to sign up to a year-long contract but still want the extras you get with digital terrestrial television then Freeview is for you. You can also add Top Up TV for extra channels.

Top Up TV

If you want Freeview but feel you need more viewing options, then Top Up TV (www.topup.tv) is for you. You’ll get a Top Up TV+ set-top box that gives you access to all the normal Freeview channels as well as over 600 on-demand programmes a month.

The Top Up TV+ set-top box also acts as a digital recorder, letting you record, pause and rewind “live” TV, as well as offering parental controls. The Top Up TV+ set-top box costs £99.99 and then you pay £9.99 a month.

BT Vision

Customers wanting to sign up to BT Vision (www.btvision.bt.com) will have to have BT Total Broadband. If you’re not already a BT Broadband customer you can sign-up online by clicking here.

Once you have BT Broadband, and have paid the installation cost, basic BT Vision is a free service allowing you to access all of the Freeview programming available in your area but with the added flexibility of being able to purchase pay-per-view programming when you want.

Customers can also add subscription packages on a month-by-month basis starting at £4 a month. This means that you could add the Kid’s package over the summer holidays or the Sport package over the football season.

Sky

Sky (www.sky.com) is a recognised name in the subscription TV market, and offers digital TV in a range of packages.

Sky channels are separated into “packs” and you can opt for a combination of any one, two, three, four, five or six packs and then choose to add on Sky Movies or Sky Sports (for an extra fee) if you want even more TV channels. Subscription packages start from £18 a month for one pack, going up by £1 for each additional pack you add.

Sky customers can bundle their digital TV with their broadband and home phone to save on the overall cost.

Virgin Media

Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) offers digital TV packages in three different sizes; Size:M, Size:L and Size:XL. Customers can choose to add Sky Movies or Sky Sports to their package as well, and XL customers get Setanta for free. Digital TV costs from £11 a month for the Size:M home phone package - all customers then get Size:M digital TV at no extra charge.

All of the digital TV packages have to be taken along with a Virgin Media home phone line but can also be bundled with broadband and your mobile phone.

Tiscali TV

Tiscali TV (www.tiscali.co.uk) is currently only available in select areas - those that were previously covered by HomeChoice - but for those who are covered by the Tiscali TV network, it is an extremely competitive option. Those served by a BT exchange that has been unbundled by Tiscali can get digital TV, broadband, home phone and their line rental all for only £19.99.

Tiscali TV offers basic digital TV which customers can then add extra services to, including a movie package with 28 movies each month for £5, music packages and kid’s packages as well as more select packages such as Sony TV Asia and the Chelsea Football channel.

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