The Virgin Media cable TV service is available to 55% of the UK’s population via Virgin Media’s own fibre-optic cable network. Virgin Media also provide broadband, home phone and mobile phone services and offer discounts if you purchase 2 or more of these services together.
Enter your postcode in the box above to check whether you can get Virgin Media in your area.
Virgin TV at a glance
Virgin Media is the UK’s main provider of digital TV, broadband and telephone services via a fibre-optic cable network. Virgin Media offer bundles of services at a discount although you need to be in a cable area to be able to get this service.
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Virgin Media – Pros
- Virgin Media offers a great range of TV channels that provides the main alternative to Sky’s offering.
- You can add Sky Sports and Sky Movies and other premium TV channels.
- You can also get TV in high definition and also subscribe to Sky Sports and Sky Movies in HD
- Virgin Media can bundle your broadband and telephone service with your TV service, to save you money also known as a Collection. Cable broadband can also offer very fast download speeds.
- No need for a BT phone line – you pay Virgin Media for your line rental as part of your package.
- Virgin Media TV offers great video on-demand services that let you watch movies, TV shows or music whenever you like thanks to their cable network.
- Virgin Media TV lets you watch programmes from BBC iPlayer and 4oD directly on your TV. iPlayer and 4oD is built in to the set-top box, a service that Sky doesn’t offer.
Virgin Media - Cons
- Virgin Media’s cable TV service is only available to around 55% of households in the UK so you may not have the option of getting this service.
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Who should get a Virgin Media package?
- Virgin Media’s cable TV, Phone and Broadband bundles (also known as Collections) are great value for households.
- If you can’t put a satellite dish on your house or flat, Virgin Media’s cable TV service could be the best alternative.
- Virgin Media’s fibre-optic cable network provides the fastest broadband connection and supports video on-demand services.
Enter your postcode in the box above to check whether you can get Virgin Media in your area.
What is Virgin Media cable TV?
With over 3 million TV customers Virgin Media is the second largest premium digital TV provider in the UK.
The Virgin Media brand was launched in 2007 after the cable companies NTL and Telewest merged with Virgin Mobile. Virgin Media has launched some innovative services since it’s launch, such as the addition of BBC iPlayer onto to the set top box, that use it’s cable network to give it’s viewers more control over what they see, as well as deliver super-fast broadband and telephone services. Virgin Media’s TV on-demand service and V+ box means Virgin Media now offer a TV service that rivals Sky.
Virgin Media TV on-demand provides you with access to 500+ films, 1000+ music videos and a huge library of TV programmes whenever you like. It’s like having an entire HMV store in your living room.
Virgin Media’s V+ box is a high specification set top box, very similar to the Sky+ and Sky HD Box , which allows you to pause, rewind and record live TV. It also features the technology to play high definition films and programmes which give you amazingly clear, high resolution pictures if you have an HD TV.
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Can I get Virgin Media cable TV?
Virgin Media is available to around 55% of the UK so you’ll need to check if it’s available in your area.
What channels does Virgin Media TV offer?
Virgin Media offers over 150 TV channels, including all of the popular digital and premium ones. They offer three main TV packages, named M+, L or XL which you can supplement by buying premium channels like Sky Sports, Sky Movies and multi-room packages.
- Virgin Media TV Size M+: Includes free Catch Up TV and similar to what you would receive with Freeview, featuring around 75 channels, including Sky 1, Dave, Discovery and Sky Living.
- Virgin Media TV Size L: Includes 115 channels such as Sky 1, MTV One, Sky Living, SyFy, Comedy Central and Cartoon Network.
- Virgin Media TV XL: XL includes 175 channels featuring ESPN at no extra charge (unlike Sky), over 15 music channels, the Disney Channel, National Geographic, MTV and FX . TV Choice on demand is included for free and the V+ service is also included for no monthly charge.
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Virgin Media also offer you premium channels to add to your service, such as Sky Sports, and Sky Movies Movies and specialist Asian, Kids and Adult channels. The price of these depends on how many normal Entertainment mixes you have chosen.
Sky Sports: Ideal for watching the football, cricket and golf. Sky Sports 1, 2 and 3 and Sky Sports 4 give you over 100 sports.
Sky Movies: If you love your movies this could be the mix for you. Up to 12 movie channels depending on the package you choose, each dedicated to a specific movie genre, in total showing 850 different films per month.
Know you want Virgin Media cable TV? Compare Virgin Media’s top deals here
What equipment will I need?
To sign up for Virgin Media cable TV, you just need to live in a cable area and own a TV. Virgin Media will provide all the equipment you need when you sign-up. One of Virgin Media’s army of engineers will come round and install the cable access and the set-top box.
What equipment is available?
Virgin Media offers a two main equipment options for it’s TV service:
- Virgin Media V HD Box: Virgin Media’s basic set top box gives you basic access to Virgin Media’s TV services, including Video on Demand and Catch-up TV, and is included in the price. For a one off fee you can also activate the HD on the box and start enjoying High Definition content without an increase in your monthly subscription.
- Virgin Media V+ HD box: The V+ box is a more advance set top box that provide you with an excellent range of features including the ability to record TV (like Sky+) and to watch HD (High Definition) TV programmes, sport and films. The V+ box can record up to 80 hours of TV, you can pause and rewind live TV, and also record two programmes whilst watching another. Like Sky+ you can simply record a whole TV series at the touch of a button.
- Virgin Media Tivo Box: The Tivo is the top of the range set top box. Tivo is hugely popular in the US and Virgin Media have brought this to the UK. It does all the usual things that a V+ or Sky+ box does but it also has some excellent video on demand services and is smart enough to let you search TV shows and movies by actor or let it suggest stuff based on your viewing habits. Genius!
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Can I watch Virgin TV in additional rooms?
Virgin Media will let you order additional V or V+ boxes for additional rooms. This allows you to watch Virgin TV in different rooms of your home, with a different channel on in each room. It costs between £5 and £9.50 a month per room depending on which package you sign up to .
What else can you get with Virgin Media?
Virgin Media offer significant discounts if you bundle your digital TV, broadband and home phone together.
Virgin Media Fibre-Optic Super-Fast Broadband
Available over the same cable network as their digital TV service, Virgin Media’s broadband packages start at £5 per month when combined with other services.
Virgin Media’s fibre-optic cable network works differently to the BT phone network that provides all the other broadband services such as O2, Talk Talk, Orange and Sky broadband.
The fibre-optic technology allows Virgin media to provide faster broadband services and unlike BT’s copper-based network the download speed you will actually receive will not be lower if you live further from the telephone exchange.
Enter your postcode in the box above to check whether you can get Virgin Media in your area.
In fact, switching to Virgin Media cable broadband may be the only way to increase the download speed you experience.
- Up to 30Mb: this basic package gives you a download speed of up to 30Mb, unlimited downloads and a free wireless ‘N’ router.
- Up to 60Mb: this basic package gives you a download speed of up to 60Mb, unlimited downloads and a free wireless ‘N’ router.
- Up to 100Mb: The top package offers the fastest speeds in the UK - of up to 100Mb with unlimited downloads, and a free wireless router. Perfect for the whole family to use multiple PCs, play online games and download movies all at the same time.
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Virgin Media Phone
Virgin Media offers three call plans, one of which should meet your needs perfectly:
- Phone M: Unlimited weekend calls to UK landlines and phone line rental for £12.99 per month.
- Phone L: Unlimited evening and weekend calls to UK landlines and phone line rental for £16.99 per month.
- Phone XL: Unlimited anytime calls to UK landlines and phone line rental for £20.99 per month
- Line rental on Virgin Media is £13.90.
Want Virgin’s Broadband and Phone service?
Virgin Media bundles are great value and you can choose which size TV, Broadband and/or Home Phone you want to include.
How much will Virgin Media cost?
Virgin Media prices start from £20 for TV M+ and a phone line through to £42.56 if you want to order the ultimate package of TV XL, Broadband XL and Phone XL.
Every different combination of services has a different price so Virgin Media has built a handy tool that will help you check the price of any combination of services.
Compare Virgin Media’s top deals here
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We are interested in the fibre-optic bundles. I have been on the website and it says it is not available for our address, however the houses opposite and 6 houses away on the same side of the road have it.
Hi Rachel
Am I right to assume that your neighbours with Virgin Media have the exact same postcode as you? It could be that the website has an out of date postcode list or that the postcode checking service was temporarily broken.
It would be worth giving Virgin Media a call and explaining the situation. Tell them the exact address of the people with ther service and they should be able to then check it on their systems.
Let me know how you get on!
The Digital TV Expert