Cut Your TV Bill By £246 a Year!

Sky and Virgin may have kissed and made-up, but which provider is cheaper when it comes to the packages they offer? We reveal all...
Readers of my blog will know that last week, Virgin Media and Sky finally ended their 20 month subscription spat, reaching a long-awaited agreement which will see the two companies share basic channels once more from Thursday.
This is good news for consumers, many of whom were left in virtual limbo when Sky pulled the plug on channels such as Sky One last year. With the digital switchover slowly gathering pace, now could be a good time to consider your options if you feel like taking the digital plunge.
But, whether you've got your heart set on a Freeview box or are thinking about splashing out a bit more, what are your options, and which provides best value for money?
Both Sky and Virgin offer a plethora of services and choices according to your viewing habits. Here's how they shape up when it comes to comparing some of their packages:
What it costs | What you get | |
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From £17 per month for one Entertainment pack, up to £22 a month for all six (each additional pack costs £1). | Choice of six Entertainment packs focusing on different types of programmes. Free Sky broadband with all packages. | |
Virgin M | Free with Virgin phone line (£11 a month) | Over 40 digital TV channels including Sky News, E4 and Setanta Sports News. |
From £34 for Sky Movies (£17 extra on top of Entertainment pack) and £36 for Sky Sports (£19 extra). | One Entertainment pack, plus either all Sky Movie or all Sky Sports channels. | |
Virgin L | £9 a month. £33 with either Sky Sports or Sky Movies Collection add-on. | Over 90 digital TV channels including Sky One and Two (other options available). Sky Movies includes Sky Movies 1, 2, plus Premiere and Premiere +1. Sky Sports includes 1, 2 and 3, plus Sky Sports Xtra. |
Sky All Packs | £47 a month | Sky's full service, including all six Entertainment packs, plus all Sky Movies and Sky Sports channels |
Virgin XL | £45.50 a month | Virgin's full service, plus Sky Movies 1 and 2, and Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 and Xtra. XL package also includes Setanta sports channels. |
As you can see from the table, there's not much between the two when it comes to price, although for the basic channels, Virgin emerges the cheaper.
There are, however a few things worth pointing out.
Although Sky and Virgin have made peace - this comes at a price. If you're a Virgin customer wanting to tune into Sky One and Two, you will need to opt for either the L or XL TV packages, which start from £9 a month.
In addition, one of the most important things to remember is that in order to take advantage of Virgin's deals, you need to take out a Virgin phone line, which costs £11 a month (although you can keep your existing phone number).
Personally, I think it's a question of quantity versus quality. In terms of channels offered, Sky gives you more channels for your money, especially when it comes to movies. However, unlike the Sky packages, where you must pay for an entertainment base pack, Virgin is a lot more flexible, giving you greater freedom to tailor your package, and at a lower price.
For example, Virgin offers Setanta Sports as standard with its XL package, which you could also opt for on its own with the free M package, costing just £12.99 per month.
Sky on the other hand requires a minimum spend of £28 a month for one Sky Sports channel and Entertainment pack (Virgin's equivalent costs £24 without Sky One and £28 with). Sky is also currently offering £15 credit when you join online.
Stay free with Freeview
If you'd prefer not to be tied to a monthly contract, you could also opt for a Freeview box for as little as £20. This one-off payment gets you 48 digital TV channels, with the comfort that you'll never have to pay a monthly subscription fee. A Foolish choice for many methinks (although you don't get Sky One with Freeview).
Alternatively, Sky also offers a `Pay Once, Watch Forever' service where for a one-off fee you can tune in to over 200 channels. The service costs £75 and you can buy a pack from Argos, Dixons and other similar retailers. The £75 payment includes the cost of a dish and installation.
Find a bargain with a bundle
If you are leaning towards Sky, one of its main perks is that all customers get free Sky broadband with its TV service.
Bundling packages in this way is quickly becoming the norm, and several providers including Sky, Virgin and even BT offer such packages, together with deep discounts and freebies in order to reel you in.
If you already pay £15 or so per month for your broadband service alone, you may want to consider taking a package like this, which for a few extra pounds per month could end up providing good value for money.
Here's a selection of some of the basic packages available:
Company and Bundle | What it costs | What you get |
---|---|---|
£15.99 a month for 1st three months, £19.99 thereafter. Total: £19.99 per month | TV Variety pack, which includes over 70 digital TV channels, plus BT phone line rental, 8Mb broadband and free weekend UK and international calls. (One off £30 installation fee applies) | |
Sky See, Speak and Surf | £17 a month (BT or Sky line rental payable). Total: £27 per month (with Sky line rental) | Sky+ box (£99) with one Entertainment pack, free weekend and evening UK calls and 2Mb broadband. (One off £30 installation fee applies if not taking Sky+ box) |
Virgin Telly Bundle | £19 a month with a Virgin phone line (£11 a month). Total = £30 per month | Virgin L package which includes over 90 digital TV channels, 2Mb broadband and unlimited UK weekend calls. (One off £30 installation fee applies |
BT Vision Bronze | From £7 a month for 1st three months, £14 thereafter. (BT line rental and broadband required). Total = £40.49 per month | 8Mb Option 1 broadband plus any two BT Vision viewing packs, including films, music and sports, plus TV pack and free Setanta Sports 1 |
Again, the world is your oyster when it comes to choosing your bundle, and there are several combinations available to entice you to part with your money.
Tiscali is the clear leader when it comes to the numbers alone, and offers broadband and digital television, as well as free weekend UK and international calls for just £15.99 a month for the first three months, and £19.99 thereafter. You don't even need to pay BT line rental on top of this.
In this way, you could save £246 a year by opting for Tiscali over BT (excluding introductory deals). A word of warning however. Tiscali's customer service has left a lot to be desired in the past, and any more views on this from fellow Fools would be greatly appreciated.
At the other end of the scale, if you stick with BT, its Vision service will cost you a minimum of £40 a month to get their complete service.
In fairness to BT, its most basic package offers an enhanced number of channels, including Setanta sports, and is also HD ready. In this way it could provide good value depending on what you watch.
The world of digital media is a vast one, and the different combinations available could end up leaving your head spinning. The important thing to remember is to buy a package which is tailored to your viewing habits and not pay more than you should. Personally, I think bundles are the way forward -- as long as you use all the services that is.
More: Ditch BT And Save £118 A Year / Download Free Music For A Year!
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Comments
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Good article and even more illuminating comments. I would mention that the Sky Freesat one commentator mentioned is the same as the Pay once - view forever service that the journalist mentioned. As the BBC are so evidently neutral I ignore the bashers AND the supporters. The former are often conservatives and the latter are often socialists as the BBC is a marxist organisation. Just ignore both sides of these comments. (I am neither). However my main point is, from reading the above, that there are no competent companies in the telecommunications field. As a technical journalist who has had a lot of experience with these companies, I can agree with most laments here.
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One thing to remember is if you have been with a company for some time (we have been with Virgin and previously Telewest for some 8 years) they are quite happy to continue overcharging you for these bundles if you do not complain. We were paying at one stage £57 per month (including all 3 services and phone calls) and I hardly use our landline phone. I had upgraded to 8mb on BB thinking it would speed up my line. After some months I came to realise that my internet speed was no better (I tested the speed using one of those internet testing services). Anyway I rang to complain to Virgin and they gave me the usual speel about the distance from the exchange may have an effect and the no. of users on line at the time I was on line could be reducing my speed. Anyway I said that I wanted my speed back down to 2mb and have actually found no difference in the speed and this has reduced the cost from £25 to £18.00. I also said I wanted my TV package reduced as I did not feel I was getting value for money. I told them I didn't want the 900 or however number of channels I was getting on my TV for channels and radio which we never use, and most channels of which we didn't watch on my XL package. They offered to reduce this and I told them the channels we mostly watched. They agreed to reduce the TV package to "L" and the price came down accordingly from £22 to £11.50 and the only channel we miss is National Geographic. I also complained that some cos. provide up to 6 international dialling calls used over the weekend for free. They agreed to let me have "Spain" for £1.50 per month extra for weekend calling as I only use this destination. She asked if I wanted fully itemised billing which costs an extra £1.00 per month (this made me laugh as they wanted me to pay to see what I am charged for calls!). Anyway I agreed to keep that as I wanted to keep track if they were overcharging me on calls.[br/][br/]So now instead of paying up to £57 per month, I pay on average £38 per month, a saving of almost £20 per month for the price of a phone call.[br/][br/]All of the above goes to prove that if you don't ask you don't get.[br/][br/]COMPLAIN AND GET WHAT YOU WANT AT A PRICE YOU FEEL IS FAIR!
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Where I live I use Virgin I have now found them some what better than NTL ever was but to get the best deals I had to cancel and go go back as a new customer easy if you have your own domain.[br/]One thing is you get on demand when it works that is a plus as I have free view a sky dish and virgin there is alwasys somthing to watch and always a service to cancel
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30 December 2008