Digital TV for Kids
There is a wide range of channels providing educational and entertaining programmes for Kids. This guide will give you the information you need to choose a digital TV service that is right for your kids and budget.
Kid’s TV
Digital TV offers a wide choice of channels just for kids, with a range of entertaining and educational programmes to keep the little ones and even teenagers occupied. Every digital TV provider, from Freeview to Sky digital, offer a small selection of channels for kids. However if you want real variety, Sky or Virgin Media maybe best for your family.
| Provider | Summary | Initial Cost | Monthly Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Sky 2 mixes |
|
£30 | £17.50 |  Free £25 Tesco gift card when ordered online |
 Virgin Media TV Size:L |
|
Free
(when ordered online) |
£21 |
£20 credit when ordered online |
 Tiscali Option 1 & Kids mix |
|
£30 | £25.99 | |
 BT Vision & Kids pack |
|
£29.36 | £29.35
(exc BT line rental) |
|
 Digital TV Recorder |
|
from £55 | Free | |
Last updated: May 16 2009
Sky TV
Sky offer 6 great Entertainment Mixes, one of which is devoted entirely to children’s channels. The Kids Mix has 17 channels, ranging from Baby TV, to the likes of Nickelodeon and Trouble.
For babies, there is BabyTV and BabyFirst, with programmes designed to promote learning, interaction and activity. Cartoonito, Nick Jr. and Playhouse Disney keep younger children occupied and help them learn whilst having fun. Boomerang, Cartoon Network and the Disney Channels provide quality entertainment and classic cartoons. Trouble is ideal for teenagers; it contains a mix of soaps, gossip, music and comedy.
If you join online, you can get the amazing Sky+ set top box. Sky+ is TV to fit your life, as you can record up to 40 hours of TV, playback whenever you want and even pause and rewind live TV.
How much does it cost?
The standard Sky mixes cost between £16.50 – £21.50 per month depending on how many mixes you choose. If you want to add Sky Movies and/or Sky Sports and choose your equipment the costs will vary.
Know you want? Visit Sky’s site
Virgin Media
The number of children’s channels you get with Virgin Media depends on which TV size option you go for:
- Their most basic package is TV Size: M which gives you access to 40 digital TV channels, and offers the children’s channels that you would get with Freeview – CBBC, CBeebies and CITV. This TV service comes free with a Virgin Media phone line Size: M, which costs £11 per month.
- The mid-range package is TV Size: L giving you over 85 digital TV channels. As well as the children’s channels that they offer with TV size: M, you get Boomerang, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. It comes with phone Size: M and costs £20 per month – there is an offer running at the moment giving you the first 3 months at £15.50 per month.
- Virgin Media’s top TV package is TV Size: XL, which gives over 140 digital TV channels. This gives a total of 12 children’s channels, including all the children’s programmes in the other packages, plus others like the Disney Channel, Trouble and Jetix. TV Size: XL with phone Size: M costs £31.50 per month – there is an offer running at the moment giving you the first 3 months at £20.75 per month.
With all three options, you can choose to add on Disney Cinemagic, a channel dedicated to children’s movies and cartoons, for an additional £5 per month; or Baby TV for £3.50 per month.
Know you want? Visit Virgin Media’s site
BT Vision
BT Vision is a digital TV service for BT Broadband customers, who, after having the BT V-Box installed, can access Freeview channels (if they’re in an area that receives Freeview) and receive on-demand content by paying per view or choosing to buy a subscription.
As it uses the Freeview service, you get access to CBeebies, CBBC and CITV. BT Vision also offers a Kid’s pack, which costs £6 per month, and offers a range of programmes from Bob the Builder to Cow & Chicken and the V-Box downloads your chosen programme on request. If you don’t want to subscribe to the Kid’s pack BT Vision allow you to pay per view, which costs from 49p per programme.
Want to get BT Vision and BT Broadband? Click here to go to BT’s site and order online
Tiscali TV
Tiscali offers a TV service, together with broadband and home phone for £19.99. The TV service that comes as standard is the Variety Pack and includes the Freeview children’s channels – CBeebies, CBBC and CITV. You also get over 350 free on demand programmes that include top US and UK drama.
Tiscali offer a Kids Mix which costs an additional £6 per month. It includes 10 channels like Boomerang, Cartoon Network, Nick Jr. and the Disney Channel. The Kids Mix comes with a ‘minimote’ which is a children’s remote control that has been pre-programmed with parental controls.
Want to get Tiscali TV? Click here to visit Tiscali’s website and order online
Freeview
Freeview offers over 45 free channels, including three especially for children – CBeebies, CBBC and CITV. CBeebies is aimed at pre-schoolers with programmes designed to help your child learn and play. Both CBBC and CITV offer a mix of entertainment, drama and factual shows, with CBBC aimed at the 6-12 year olds and CITV aimed at the 2-9 year old children.
A basic set top box starts from about £25, but for a little bit extra you can be in control of your TV by getting a digital TV recorder. This will let TV fit in with your life – you can pause and rewind live TV, and record your children’s favourites and even a whole series at a touch of a button, ready to playback at another time.
Check the latest prices for a basic set top box or a digital TV recorder at Amazon.
Still not sure?
Every digital TV service offers some form of entertainment for children. If you are happy just getting the basics, the standard set top box giving Freeview will be fine.
If you would like more features and the ability to record and playback programmes, you should consider getting a Freeview Playback digital TV recorder or the Top Up TV service. BT Vision and Tiscali TV offer you the ability to add on Kids channels to their standard packages and have a range of on demand programmes you can access, so are good if you want a range of programmes to choose from and are in a Freeview covered area.
If you want a much bigger range of quality entertainment, then Sky or Virgin Media is for you.