What’s the best-value TV bundle on offer today, now that Vodafone has
started a price war?
Adrian Weckler
This week, Vodafone opened up the Irish TV market with a new cut-price
offering aimed at undercutting Sky and Virgin.
But in a sector that often confuses people on pricing, offers and
bundles, what is the best value you can get? What deals regularly come
up? And where do your subscriptions to streaming services such as
Netflix, Amazon or Disney come into it?
Here’s a look at what the different options are in the TV market.
TV broadband bundles
This is what most TV providers now push as the better-value deals. For
pay TV, the cheapest long-term deal is Vodafone’s new TV Play service,
which offers more than 100 channels plus ‘real’ fibre broadband of
500Mbs for €65 a month with no post-promotion price hike.
Over a three-year period, that equates to €2,340. And over five years,
it’s €3,900.
The next cheapest is Eir’s basic TV and broadband bundle, which costs
€96 a month, discounted to €48 a month for the first 12 months.
Over a three-year period, that amounts to €2,880 including the first
year’s discount, or €5,184 over five years.
Sky is next, at €101 a month for its basic TV and fibre broadband
package, discounted to €50 a month for the first 12 months.
The cheapest way to get pay TV is to change operator every 12 months.
But it’s messy
That means you’ll pay €3,024 over a three-year period, including the
first year’s discount, and €5,448 over five years.
The most expensive is Virgin, which costs €104 a month, discounted to
€50 a month for the first 12 months. So you pay €3,096 over three years
and €5,592 over five years, including the first year’s discount.
In most cases, a minimum 12-month contract is standard with the cost of
any accompanying equipment, such as a set-top box, covered by the provider.
Premium channels and multiroom
But what if you want extras such as ‘premium’ sport and movie channels
or multi-room viewing?
Different providers treat ‘premium’ channels differently. For Sky and
Virgin, it’s integrated into the main offering via billed add-ons.
Mostly, these are similarly priced: around €30 extra for premium sports
such as Sky Sports channels (with extra required for BT Sport and
Premier Sport). For Vodafone and Eir, which are slightly lighter on
integrated platforms, it’s via a (Sky) Now TV subscription.
Multi-room viewing is generally available from most providers for an
additional fee, typically around €10 a month for each room.
We can get very possessive over a remote control. Photo: Getty
TV only
What if you want only TV and not broadband from a provider? Only one
main provider – Sky – offers this option. The other three sell TV only
within broadband bundles.
Satellite vs cable vs wifi
The largest pay-TV provider, Sky, still mostly delivers its content
through satellite dishes.
That means you either need somewhere on or around your premises to place
the dish (local planning or residents’ regulations often prohibit it on
front-facing walls or balconies) or be part of a group dish scheme, such
as in a housing estate or apartment block.
Increasingly, though, Sky is introducing wifi delivery of its content
through products such as Sky Glass and Sky Stream.
Virgin Media has traditionally used its own cable infrastructure to
deliver TV content and broadband but is now adding fibre to that mix.
However, Virgin does not provide TV on non-Virgin internet or cable
infrastructure, so you cannot use it in an area that does not have
physical Virgin infrastructure in place.
While Eir does not offer TV as a standalone product separate to its
broadband, it does not have to be Eir infrastructure – it can be Siro or
National Broadband Plan fibre infrastructure.
There wasn't much on TV in the Seventies, but people still watched.
Photo: Getty
Set-top box vs connected TV
TV services increasingly rely on wifi rather than cabled access. They’re
devices that are simply plugged in, connected to wifi and go.
Sky has taken this to another level, with its own all-in-one TV. Called
Sky Glass, you take the telly (a 43-inch set, 55-inch or 65-inch set)
out of the box, connect it to wifi and it works.
Sky has extended this idea to its Sky Stream product, which uses the
same interface as Sky Glass, but is a small set-top box that you plug
into any existing TV.
The advantage to Sky Glass is that it’s simple and fairly good quality –
the built-in speaker is good enough to not need a separate soundbar. The
absence of a separate set-top box also helps keep things neat and tidy,
almost entirely devoid of any trailing wires.
Recording
Recording content can be described only as comprehensive on Virgin and
Sky Q – it starts to wobble on Sky Stream or Sky Glass, which can’t
reliably record all BBC programmes (due to IP restrictions) and falls
down pretty badly on Eir and Vodafone.
Vodafone can’t record RTÉ or BBC content and advises you to go looking
on the RTÉ Player instead.
Promotional deals
The cheapest way to get pay TV is to continually chop and change between
operators every 12 months.
Three of the four main players offer half-price deals for a full year on
television-plus-broadband bundles for ‘new’ customers. A ‘new’ customer
is generally regarded as someone who has not been a customer in recent
months, meaning you can constantly switch between them.
However, this is generally not done by most people because it means
switching between interfaces, content options and remote controls every
12 months: choosing the best long-term pricing option is the wiser course.
Price comparison
The following is a comparison of a standard broadband-plus-TV package
(75 to 150 channels, including all generally available main Irish and UK
stations). The cost quoted is the standard pricing, not including
promotional offers which are typically limited to the first 12 months’
usage.
Vodafone €65pm (€3,900 over five years)
Eir €96pm* (€5,184 over five years)
Sky €101pm** (€5,448 over five years)
Virgin €104pm** (€5,592 over five years)
* discounted to €48 for first 12 months, after which standard price in
perpetuity
** discounted to €50pm for first 12 months, after which standard price
in perpetuity
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Irish Independent Technology
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