Digital TV Selector

There’s a wide range of channels providing both educational and entertaining programmes for Kids of all ages. This guide will give you the information you need to choose a digital TV service that is right for your kids and your budget.

Kid’s TV

The advent of digital TV has opened up a wide choice of channels just for kids, with a range of entertaining and educational programmes to keep the little ones and your teenagers occupied. Every digital TV provider, from Freeview to Sky, offer a small selection of channels for kids. However if you want true variety, Sky and Virgin Media offer the best for your family.

Provider	Summary	Monthly Cost
Sky TV for Kids	Choose 2 of Sky’s 6 mixes Over 15 Kids channels including Nickelodeon & Disney channel Optional free broadband and home phone	From £19	See Sky’s latest special offers and popular bundles
Virgin Media TV L	Over 100 TV channels & TV on demand 7 Kids channels including Boomerang & Cartoon Network Baby TV and Disney Cinemagic cost extra	From £17
BT Vision Bronze (inc. BT Vision Kids)	Over 1000 Kids TV shows On demand kids programmes Nickelodeon & Disney channel Comes with BT Broadband	£14.99 (first 3 months at £7.50)
Digital TV Recorder	Over 45 TV channels 3 Kids channels, including CBeebies and CITV Record favorites and playback	Free

Last updated: 30 August 2010

Sky TV

Sky offer 6 Entertainment Packs, one of which is devoted entirely to children’s channels. The Childrens Pack has all the major kids TV channels, ranging from Baby TV, to the likes of Disney XD, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.

For babies, there is Baby TV, 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.

The Sky+ box and Sky+ HD box, allow you to record hours of TV, so you can playback your children’s favourite TV shows whenever you want and even pause and rewind live TV for tea or bed time!  No more excuses for the little un’s!

How much does it cost?

The Childrens Pack costs only £1 on top of the basic  price for a Sky bundle which is £18 at time of writing (30 August 2010) which also includes free broadband.

Visit Sky’s website to read more about their children’s TV packages

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 £11.50 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 from £17 a month.
• Virgin Media’s top TV package is TV Size: XL, which gives over 140 digital TV channels. There are over 20 children’s channels, including all the children’s programmes in the other packages, plus others like the Disney Channel, Nick Jr, Playhouse Disney and Disney XD. from £29 a month.

Visit Virgin Media’s website to see their most popular bundles

BT Vision

BT Vision is a digital TV service for BT Broadband customers, who, after having the BT Vision+ 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 and offers a range of programmes from Bob the Builder to Cow & Chicken and the V-Box downloads your chosen programme on request.  You get on-demand TV programmes from Nickelodeon, The Disney Channel, Playhouse Disney, Disney XD, Baby TV and the Cartoon Network! If you don’t want to subscribe to the Kid’s pack, BT Vision allow you to pay per view, which costs from 39p per programme but this could get expensive very quickly.  Perhaps one for grandparents who want to occasionally entertain the grandchildren.

Visit BT’s website to see their latest offers and pricing

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 Plus digital TV recorder or the Top Up TV service. BT Vision 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.