Digital TV Basics: The Options Compared

Helping you choose which TV service to pick

Choosing digital TV

As you may well know, the UK is slowly switching over to digital TV, as by 2012, the existing analogue TV will be switched off.

If you don't yet have digital TV, you may be looking for some advice on which service to go with, so on this page, we look at the basics.

Summary of the Digital services

Here is a table showing the basic TV services offered by each of the main TV services:

Service	Basic TV Channels	On Demand	Monthly fee	Box cost	Setup	High-Definition	Broadband
Sky	200+	Small selection on Sky+ boxes	From £16	Free	£30-£60	19 channels	Up to 16MB
Freesat	48+	-	Free	From £50	£80	2 channels	-
Tiscali TV	44+	Large selection, plus catch-up	£19.99	Free	£30	-	Up to 8MB
Top Up TV	42+	100 hours a week	£9.99	£99	nil	-	-
Virgin	40+	Large selection, plus catch-up	Free (with Virgin phone)	Free	£30	4 channels, plus on demand	Up to 20MB
BT Vision	40+	Large selection, plus catch-up	Free (with BT Broadband)	Free	£30	-	Up to 8MB
Freeview	40+	-	Free	From £30	nil	-	-

Last updated July 2008

Five things you need to know:

BT Vision

If you get your Broadband from BT, you can get this for free

40 live TV channels via a TV aerial (the Freeview channels)

Loads of TV and films to watch over the Internet

On-demand TV and films either on subscription, or pay-to-view

More on our BT Vision page or at btvision.bt.com

Freesat

Satellite TV without subscription

Choice much more limited than Sky's satellite service

Offers small amount of subscription-free High Definition

Covers 98% of the UK

More on our Freesat page.

Freeview

Received via a standard TV aerial

No subscription fees / no installation fees

Cheap way to get digital TV - one off cost

Available to about 75% of the UK - coverage will improve as we get closer to Digital Switchover

More: See our Freeview page.

Sky Digital

You need a satellite dish, fitted by Sky

Widest choice of channels in the UK

Covers 98% of the UK

Offering a free Broadband service to customers

More: See our Sky Digital page, or go to www.sky.com.

Tiscali TV

TV over a phone line

Not available across the UK - Only in London and a few other towns

You need to sign up to Tiscali broadband

Free set-top box provided

More: Full details at www.tiscali.co.uk.

Top Up TV

Our least favourite of the options

Live TV channels come from Freeview via a TV aerial

The box downloads extra TV content overnight, for viewing next day

Downloaded content is limited

More: See our Top Up TV Anytime page.

Virgin Media Cable

Delivered via underground fibre optic cable

Not available throughout the UK

Good collection of on-demand content

Cheap solution when used with Virgin's phone and broadband

More: See our Cable TV page, or see if you're in coverage at www.virginmedia.com