No Aeriel - Am I stuck with Virgin?

Bunnylaw

Just wondering if anyone is or has been in a similiar position as us. We've been with NTL/Virgin Media for a little over 10 years now. We pay around £40 for our telephone, BB and TV (all pretty basic stuff, we have a phone add on for Evening and Weekend Calls).

I know of some reasonable deals with BB and phone however, I think we are really stuck for the TV element. We would ideally like something that is anti subscription, or well, cheap - Just because we don't really watch it, just news in the morning and kids TV after school. But as the topic states, we don't have an aeriel, we've had a quote of £160 for an install and while I'm not against shelling out, I was wondering if anyone knew of any alternatives which might suit - There are so many about now, Freeview, Freesat, NowTV, TopUp TV - I haven't got a clue if we actually need the aeriel or not, and if not, whether it's worth the investment).

Thanks in advance
L

penrhyn

Freeview is terrestrial needs an aerial.
Youview is terrestrial needs an aerial and an internet connection.
Freesat needs a satellite dish, some also have an internet connection.
Now TV is an internet service.

Cycrow

You may be able to drop the price of virgin abit, if you drop down to thier TV M service, which is basically freeview. This with phone and BB should be around £30.

For the BB, have you already checked what is available to you?

Kurtis_Blue

Bunnylaw wrote: »

But as the topic states, we don't have an aeriel, we've had a quote of £160 for an install and while I'm not against shelling out,

Get a few more quotes, whilst that may not be an out of range quote, you will probably get it a bit cheaper for a standard property install some installers are struggling post DSO.
Stay away from the national company's and call a few locals from CAI or RDI.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

Kurtis_Blue wrote: »

Get a few more quotes, whilst that may not be an out of range quote, you will probably get it a bit cheaper for a standard property install some installers are struggling post DSO.
Stay away from the national company's and call a few locals from CAI or RDI.

For those unfamiliar with the abbreviations...

• DSO = Digital Switchover
• CAI = Confederation of Aerial Industries
• RDI = Registered Digital Institute

socks_uk

We currently don't have a working TV aerial (my husband laid loft boards and we think he has cut/unplugged the cable!)

We watch free TV through our Sky box which is still plugged in even though we stopped our Sky contract a while ago. We also have a little NOW TV box which I pay £4.99 (a month) but 'when I choose to' for the entertainment package. When I don't pay the £4.99 I just use it for catch-up for BBC iplayer, 4OD and 5 on Demand. I do believe ITV Player is coming later in the year.

I also have a cable that plugs from my laptop to the TV so I can watch anything that can be viewed online but on my TV so everyone can see the screen.

ETA: If you cancelled Virgin TV, would you still get the 'free' channels on the box like we do with the Sky box?

[Deleted User]

socks_uk wrote: »

If you cancelled Virgin TV, would you still get the 'free' channels on the box like we do with the Sky box?

Virgin don't provide any service to non-subscribers, so the answer is no.


In your case, it's the satellite dish receiving the Free-To-Air channels via your
non-subscribed Sky box.

Virgin simply cut the feed and no channels are available to non-customers via cable.

penrhyn

Fruit_and_Nut_Case wrote: »

For those unfamiliar with the abbreviations...

• DSO = Digital Switchover
• CAI = Confederation of Aerial Industries
• RDI = Registered Digital Institute

Nothing like a good TLA, three letter acronym.

macman

Even a new aerial at around £100 will earn the investment back in just 2.5 months.

Cycrow

macman wrote: »

Even a new aerial at around £100 will earn the investment back in just 2.5 months.

Thats not actually true, for 2.5 months would mean a saving £40 a month.

But the £40/month they are paying is for phone, broadband and tv, not just for TV.

They will still have to pay for the phone/broadband

macman

Correct. But the same prinicple applies nevertheless. It's daft to pay for a subscription TV service for ever, rather than invest in an aerial or sat dish, if you don't watch the subscription channels.