As the new football season kicks off, die-hard fans of sport will be looking forward to viewing all the live action through their chosen Digital TV provider, be it Virgin Media, Sky, or BT Vision. For those who don't already own a sports TV package, these 3 providers offer fantastic deals for you to seriously consider - most especially if you are football mad and wish to have access to all the live action straight from your living room.
Through Virgin you will have access to 46 live Barclays Premier League matches with ESPN (these were going to be shown through Setanta Sports before the company went into administration) and over 92 live Barclays Premier League Matches being shown on all 4 Sky Sports channels (Sky Sports 1,2,3 and Xtra) with their TV XXL package.
This package also includes over 145 other digital TV channels to suit the viewing demands of the whole family. All this is available for £40.50 a month including the Virgin phone line connection (which is £11 per month), plus you get unlimited weekend calls to UK landlines included with this package.
This deal also allows you to catch up on any television you have missed over the previous week and as a special offer with the XXL packages, as new users can add a V+HD Box for just £49 (saving £100) and then just £5 a month afterwards.
Sky offer the same two main packages as Virgin; ESPN and Sky Sports. 92 matches are live and exclusive in glorious high definition through Sky Sports, including interactive features, such as replays and stats, available through the red button on the Sky remote.
Like Virgin, for the new season Sky also have ESPN, with the additional 46 live and exclusive Premier League Matches, 30 Scottish Premier League matches, live football from major leagues across Europe (including the Bundesliga and Serie A) and Major League Soccer from the USA available, with this all available in high definition when purchased alongside or added to your Sky Sports package.
With Sky, ESPN is an additional £9 a month for users who already have Sky Sports and £12 for those who don't. The Sky Sports pack is available for £19 per month through Sky.
BT also offer Sky Sports and ESPN like the other two providers discussed above. For their maximum package, this costs £12.23 a month for the first 3 months, plus a £15 one-off fee, then £44.03 a month after this for the next 15 months.
This maximum pack contains all TV channels, including ESPN, although if viewers wish to purchase ESPN through BT, a one-off viewing card fee of £9.78 will apply.