Help! Digital televison advice please!

PaperPlanes

Hello!

I wondered if any knowledgable Money Savers could offer their opinions on what digital televison package would be most suitable for our needs? I am totally confused by the numerous possible options out there and at a loss as to what to do.

Our predictament:

We have just moved into a rented property. The landlord previously had Virgin Media, but has now cancelled the package. The box and wires are all still in the flat, but we are told these will be collected shortly by Virgin Media. The three flats above us (it's a large converted victorian town house) all have their own satellite dishes.

As our flat is in the basement and there is no communal aerial we are worried that we won't get a decent signal. We currently do not have a televison, so we are unable to test out the singanl. We are looking to purchase a televison very soon which will have Freeview.

We really don't want to sign up for Virgin Media as we don't watch watch enough televison to justify the £30 a month (broadband, tv and phone calls) , and we wouldn't use the phone anyway. We also don't want to pay to have a satellite dish installed for Freesat or Sky as we are unsure if we will stay at the property after our contract ends in a year.
Put simply.. Is there any way for us to get reception for the televison without paying a large monthly subscription? As we don't currently have a TV, we are unable to test the signal before buying a new TV. One thing that did occur to is, if Virgin Media don't come to collect the box, would we still get a cable TV signal for the basic free channels?

We also need to get broadband installed in the flat , so if we had to get Virgin Media just so we can get a TV signal, we will obviously get broadband in the same package. If we can avoid subscribing to Virgin Media, we would then look to get a landline installed so we can purchase our broadband from an alternative source.

Apologies, if that was long winded. I really would be grateful for any advice. Thank you for your time!

macman

What platform do you want to use, or what channels do you actually want to receive?
Your 'free' options are either Freesat or Freeview. You can't get VM cable services or Sky subscription channels without subscribing.
Have you checked to see if you can get Freeview in your area? If not then Freesat is your only free option. It's unlikley that you will get a decent Freeview signal withoiut a proper external aerial.