Digital TV for Movies
Most digital TV services offer channels dedicated to movies. Depending on whether you want the freedom to pick and choose which movies you want to watch, or are content watching what is screening on the channel, there is a service that is perfect for you.
Best Value Sky Movies TV Packages
| Provider | Summary | Initial Cost | Monthly Cost | Order Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 2 Mixes & Sky Movies |
|
£30 | £35 |
 |
 TV Size:M & Sky Movies |
|
£30 | £41 |
|
Last updated: May 16 2009
Movies
If you love watching movies but don’t want to spend lots of money taking the family to the cinema or buying new DVDs, there is a digital TV service out there that will suit your needs. Whether you want to watch a good movie once in a while or want to have access to the latest Hollywood blockbusters whilst sat in your living room you’ll find a package to suit your needs.
Movie addicts - If you want to have a wide range of choice including Sky Movies or perhaps movies available to buy on-demand then these are the options for you.
See the best value Sky Movies deals here
Occasional movie watchers – If you only want to watch movies occasionally at home, an on-demand service like BT Vision, Tiscali or Virgin Media may be worth considering. You will need to check that these providers can offer you a TV service in your area.
Best Movie Packages for Occassional Watchers
| Provider | Summary | Initial Cost | Monthly Cost | Order Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Virgin Media TV Size:M |
|
Free
(special offer – normally ) |
£11 | £20 credit when you apply online |
 Tiscali Option 1 |
|
£30 | £19.99 |
|
 BT Vision |
|
£29.36 | £29.35
(exc. BT line rental) |
|
Last updated: May 16 2009
If you are looking for quality entertainment with a massive range of movies, Sky is for you. As well as the 200 free-to-air channels, you can select up to six Entertainment Mixes plus the most important part, Sky Movies.
Instead of being ordered into numbered channels, Sky Movies is divided into 8 genres, so there will be something to suit your mood, whether it is comedy or action. There is also Sky Movies Premiere, which shows more than 300 latest films a year, from Hollywood blockbusters to world cinema wonders. In total, Sky Movies screens over 850 different films per month, with no adverts, so there will always be a great choice of movies for you to watch.
How much does it cost?
The packages that include Sky Movies start at £35 per month – remember with Sky you can build your own package to suit your needs.
Know you want? Visit Sky’s site to choose your mixes with Sky Movies
Virgin Media
Virgin Media offer 3 standard TV options which you can then customise by adding premium channels. With all three options, you get access to Virgin TV on-demand, which has a library of over 500 films to choose from, including latest blockbusters and classics. Films cost between £2.00 and £3.50 to rent for 24 hours.
- TV Size M: Virgin Media’s most basic digital TV package gives you access to 40 digital TV channels, including Film4, and it comes free when you take Virgin Media phone line at £11.
- TV Size L: The mid-range package is giving you over 100 digital TV channels including all the ones in Size:M and others like Turner Classic Movies.
- TV Size XL: At the other end of the range is , which gives over 140 digital TV channels, including Movies 24, True Movies and Turner Classic Movies.
- VIP – is Virgin Media’s package that gives you the best of everything for a big discount. As well as TV Size: XL it includes all Sky Movies channels and the V+ box (similar to the Sky+ box) so you can record your favourites and pause and rewind live TV. In addition to this, a phone package and broadband package are also included.
Know you want Virgin Media? Visit Virgin Media’s site to choose and apply online to get a £20 credit.
Want Virgin Media but also want Sky Movies? You can choose which group of Sky Movie channels you want (Comedy, Family, Action/Thriller etc.) or you can choose to have all of them with Sky Movies Premiere under the Sky Movies Collection. The monthly cost varies depending on what you choose. Click here to check the latest prices at Virgin Media.
BT Vision
BT Vision is available to BT Broadband customers and is an option for people that only watch the occasional movie as it allows you to pay per view; there is no subscription for the movie service.
With BT Vision, customers get all the Freeview channels, a V-Box, which is a digital TV recorder, and a range of on-demand programmes to pay per view. For movies, there is an extensive library covering comedy, drama, action and horror among others. Movies are available to rent for between £1.99 and £2.99.
Want to get BT Vision and BT Broadband? Visit 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 Sky One, Paramount Comedy 1 and 2 and Film4. Tiscali offer Movies on demand giving you instant access to over 1,000 movies every month. It costs from £1.99 per view.
Want to get Tiscali TV? Click here to visit Tiscali’s website and order online
Top Up TV
Top Up TV lets you access all Freeview channels, pause live TV, record 2 channels at the same time and more with a Top Up TV+ Digital TV Recorder (It’s like Sky+ on Freeview).
For movies, you can subscribe to PictureBox for an additional £5 per month, so you can watch a great film every night. The films are downloaded to your box, so you have a choice of 7 films at any one time.
Freeview
Freeview offers only one dedicated movie channel, Film4 which shows movies that are a little more offbeat. There’s a variety of film genres including British, foreign language, old, and independent as well as critically acclaimed Hollywood films.
A basic Freeview 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 revolve around your lifestyle – you can pause and rewind live TV, and record your movies so that you can watch them at a time convenient to you.
