Simply put cable TV is television that is transmitted through a cable in the ground. It is one of three options available to TV viewers when deciding how to receive their television pictures. The other options are through an aerial and via satellite. However, the advantage of cable TV over the other two options is its reliability and versatility.

How it works

Cable TV works in a similar way to other digital TV formats with the crucial difference that the signal is transmitted via fibre optic cables. The channel provider creates a digital transmission signal and this is then digitally compressed and transmitted along the fibre optic cable. Like satellite and aerial digital television, digital cable can effectively transmit many interactive channels because a large amount of digital information can be carried at the same time because it has been digitally compressed. The signal is then decoded in the viewer's home by their digital set top decoding box.

Who provides it and how much does it cost?

There are a growing number of cable digital TV providers currently operating in the UK. However, as a fledgling TV medium of note, the unquestionable market leader at the moment is Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com). Virgin is a cable digital TV champion with over 4 million customers already. Starting from £11 per month customers can receive around 45 digital cable TV channels from Virgin. However, with Virgin cable TV viewers can receive as many as 200-odd channels, all in fantastic digital picture and sound quality.


Virgin Media currently dominates the UK digital cable TV market, with the competition limited to a few local options. However, this is due to change in the near future. Telecomms giant BT (www.btvision.com) already offers a cable TV option of sorts in terms of its broadband service and it is poised to enter the digital cable TV market soon. And Tiscali (www.tiscali.co.uk) also currently provides a TV service as part of its wider broadband offering.

What equipment do you need?

To get digital cable TV customers will need to get a fibre optic cable installed at their home. This process will involve a cable TV engineer running a cable from the local network hub, under the front garden and into a receiver box that they will place on the outside of the house. They will then connect the receiver box on the outside of the house to the customer's set top box by drilling a whole in the external wall.

So customers wanting to set up digital cable TV will require a set top box, a receiver box and fibre optic cable. And, of course, customers will also need to pay for installation.

Pros and cons

The headline benefit of digital cable TV is its reliability. While aerial and satellite digital TV can be adversely affected by the weather and by blocking by trees and buildings, cable TV is free from these concerns. Another advantage of cable transmitted TV is the cable itself and the fact that it can carry other media signals, thus making it extremely versatile. Bundling services is a rapidly increasing sector of the modern Media market and customers with a fibre optic cable installed at their property have the ability to easily add other services (i.e. phone and broadband) that can be delivered through the same cable.

The disadvantage of cable TV is the initial set up costs, the potential disruption cause by laying the cable and the fact that currently not all of the UK is accessible to cable TV. However, Virgin Media is working to increase its coverage with the hope that all of the UK will soon be accessible to Virgin digital TV.

The benefit of bundling

Cable TV offers excellent flexibility to allow customers to bundle their media services and in the process save money. Virgin Media offers the triple media deal of TV, Phone and Broadband, all delivered through the customer's fibre optic digital cable. Customers can get the triple deal from just £30 per month.

BT currently offers phone and broadband services and it is expected that soon the telecomms giant will be able to rival Virgin's triple service deals.

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Virgin Media

Virgin Media offer three cable TV packages and various bundle combinations. The three different packages are - TV Size: M, TV Size: L and TV Size: XL. The main difference between the packages are the number of digital TV channels available. TV Size: M has over 45 channels, TV Size: L has over 100 channels and TV Size: XL has over 160 channels.

All of the Virgin TV packages require that you take out a Virgin Phone package and have a minimum 12 month contract.

Virgin TV Packages