Satellite TV in the UK: What are the options?

Gone are the days when all the TV channels available in the UK could be counted on one hand. We now have a plethora of options and choices at our finger tips. This page will attempt to show you some of the best options out there and how you can go about getting them.

Sky

Sky is a name that's been around for many years now and is a well recognised and trusted brand. They are the market leading digital TV provider in the UK and currently have more than 8.1 million subscribers to their service.

Visit the Sky.com Offers Page

What you get when you join Sky?

• Sky TV - You get all 6 Entertainment Mixes including channels solely dedicated to the best in variety, knowledge, style and culture, news and events, music and childrens TV programmes.
• Sky Broadband Super-fast download speeds of up to 8Mb, although the real speed might be considerably slower, but this is a common situation facing most broadband providers here in the UK. Your monthly usage allowance is 40GB - which is loads and ideal for everyday browsing, and downloading music and movies, with a FREE Wireless Sky Router.
• Sky Talk Freetime - You get free evening and weekend calls to UK landlines. You just pay BT for your line rental and Sky for any other calls you make.

Visit Sky for the latest Deals and Promotions >>

If you join Sky online you get exclusive offers on Sky+ and multiroom.

Online only Sky+ offer

• Sky+ stand alone online - will be £99 (not £149)
• Sky+ with Multiroom - £99
• Sky+ with Broadband and Talk - £99
• Sky+ with Multiroom, Broadband and Talk - £49
• Sky+ additional box cost – remains £99

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Virgin Media

You might remember a little while ago there was a huge advertising war between the giants of Sky and Virgin. Well the good news for the consumer is that all this competition, and the arrival of Freesat, has really helped to drive down the price of getting Satalite TV in the UK.

Freesat

As reported on the BBC News website, Freesat is being rolled out across the UK and will be available in 98% of homes, including those who are currently unable to receive Freeview through their aerial. You'll get an impressive 80+ TV and radio channels on this service and they say that number is due to rise to 200 by the end of 2008. Which only begs the question, who's making all this TV, and does this mean yet another series of Big Brother! I only hope not. Rather than the traditional Sky service, which requires that people pay a subscription; Freeview will be as it's name suggests, free! All you need to do is pay for the set top box, installation and the disk itself. The BBC reports 'The price of a box will start at £49, rising to £120 for a high-definition (HD) version. The cost of installation, including the satellite dish, will be a further £80.'. So that's pretty good really and definately cheaper than the option offered by Sky, although Sky already offers a service which is free to view, once the equipment has been bought.

For those people who already own a Sky satalite dish, you'll be glad to know you can use the same dish to receive the Freeview signal. All you need to do is plug the cable coming from the dish into the back of your newly bought receiver.

Satellite TV Comparision Table

Sky Visit the Sky Website	Join Sky and get over 100 digital TV channels (plus over 200 other free to air digital radio and TV channels), super-fast broadband and free UK evening and weekend landline calls. All this for just £26* a month, plus a one-off broadband activation fee of £20 (plus £11 per month to BT for your line rental.) *Subject to availability in your area There are loads of other offers and combinations, so check out the Sky website for the latest deals and promotions.
Virgin Media Visit the Virgin Media Website	Virgin currently offer several packages depending on what you're after and how much you'd like to pay. These range from free for 40 channels, to £9.75/month for over 145 channels. This is of course accurate at the time of writing, so please take a look at their website for all the latest offers.
Freesat	- Over 80 digital TV and radio channels, up to 200 by the ed of 2008. - HD TV programmes subscription-free - No contract, no subscription, just a one-off payment for equipment and installation. - Available to almost every home in the UK, although some listed buildings and those without a clear sight of the satalite might have problems. They say about 98% coverage and an improvement over the current aerial digital TV service.

Disclaimer: All the information on this page was accurate at the time of writing but may well be out of date when you get round to reading it, so please don't blame me. Visit the retailers websites for the latest deals.