Virgin TV offers around 200 digital TV channels to customers throughout most of the UK. It is the largest cable digital TV provider in Britain, currently supplying many millions of homes via its fibre optic network. Marketed under the name Virgin Media, it is Sky’s biggest rival in the digital TV arena.

What is Virgin Media?

Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) is a relatively new name in the UK digital TV market. It was created from the takeover by the Virgin group of NTL:Telewest, which was itself the product of an earlier merger of telecomms companies NTL Inc. and Telewest Global. Virgin Media claims to be the first UK company to offer the true complete home media package of TV, internet, home phone and mobile phone. And, in terms of its TV offering, Virgin Media currently says that it offers more to watch than any rival.

What does Virgin TV offer?

So what does Virgin TV offer to television customers in the UK? Virgin TV offers most of the channels that Sky Digital (www.sky.com) offers. Virgin TV also has some enticing unique features. These include Virgin Central, the company’s flagship channel and the UK’s first TV on-demand channel.

With Virgin Central viewers can choose from up to 6 different programmes at any one time. And viewer interaction does not stop there. With Virgin TV, subscribers can select and reminder mark their favourite shows with the interactive programme guide, they can implement parental controls and even play games and shop through their Virgin service.


In addition to this, Virgin TV also offers V+ and Virgin HD. V+ allows Virgin TV viewers to pause, rewind and record live TV, while Virgin HD (high definition) offers customers the very latest in picture and sound quality.

How much does Virgin TV cost?

Virgin TV is neatly organised into viewing packages to cater for all different personal customer programme preferences and budgets. Grouped by ‘size’, the options are M, L and XL. Each option must be taken in conjunction with Virgin’s phone package, which incurs a separate cost.

However, in the base package, option ‘M’ is free and it provides viewers with around 45 channels, including Virgin Central, Virgin TV’s brilliant on-demand offering. Other channels provided in this package include all the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 channels among a number of other ‘satellite’ options.

Option ‘L’ offers the same profile of channels as option ‘M’ but with further additions such as UK TV Gold, Living TV and Eurosport, giving a total package in the region of 85 channels. This package costs £11.50 per month and also must be taken in conjunction with Virgin Phone.

Last but not least, option ‘XL’ costs £20.50 per month when taken with Virgin Phone. It provides viewers with over 160 channels with extra options such as Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel and 7 Setanta Sports channels. The availability of the Setanta sports package as an incorporated aspect of the £20.50 deal is unique to Virgin Media.

In addition to its three viewing packages, Virgin Media customers can also upgrade their service by cherry picking from a list of premium channel options, including Sky Sports, Sky Movies, Kids channels and Adult channels. Premium channels each carry an individual subscription charge. For example, Virgin Media customers can also receive Sky Sports 1 & 3 for the additional monthly fee of between £15 and £24 depending on which Virgin Media package they have. (Most additional channels must be ordered for a minimum of 30 days).

What do you need to get Virgin TV?

Virgin TV is transmitted into subscribers’ homes via a fibre optic cable link under the ground. The benefit of being a cable service is that signal quality is guaranteed and possible issues relating to satellite dish placement is avoided. However, the drawback is that not all of the UK is currently accessible to cable TV and therefore Virgin Media is not available in a few areas of the county. However, Virgin Media is working to achieve 100% coverage.

To get Virgin Media TV customers require a fibre-optic cable installed at their property. This will involve a Virgin appointed engineer running a cable from Virgin’s network under customers’ front garden and into a receiver box that they will place on the outside of the house. They will then connect the receiver box to the set top box, which will decode the signal to provide access to Virgin TV. Customers not currently within Virgin’s cable service area can get Virgin Free TV via an aerial. This free TV service offers around 40 channels.