The Digital Switchover: What’s Next for Your Tellybox?

The Switchover

By 2012 the whole of the UK will be watching digital TV. There will not be an analogue signal and many people will need new equipment to be able to receieve digital television stations. There are different options available all carrying different price tags. Which one is best may be decided by what you are looking for and how much you want to spend.

SKY Subscription

The main digital provider via satellite for some time now has been SKY. SKY offer digital television as well as telephone and broadband. The service starts from around £17 a month for a selection of what SKY call mixes. The channels are broken down into six  categories such as entertainment and documentaries. Customers choose a minimum of two mixes or can take all 6 for just over £20 a month. Sports channels are extra, Movie channels are extra and HD channels are extra. If you subscribe to every channel including HD channels (a few channels have separate subscriptions to their respective owners) you can expect to pay just less than £70 every month. The choice of channels can be changed every month so you can add movies for a month and then remove them. Radio channels, interactive services and some games are also included. HD channels and new installations require a 12 month contract. Pay as you watch films are also available on box office.

The equipment required consists of a satellite dish and cables and either a standard digital reciever, a SKY+ or SKY+ HD digibox. The SKY+ boxes allow you to set program reminders, pause and rewind live TV as well as set up recordings for a single program or a series link. There is a charge for new installations and HD receivers. A quick look at sky.com will provide you with the latest pricing for installation and equipment as these are often changing due to special offers. A standard SKY box will require a single dish and a single cable whilst SKY+ boxes require two cables enabling the recording feature. Most dishes can have 4 cables (8 can be fitted with an upgrade to the dish) enabling multiroom installations. Extra cabling and an extra digibox will be required and an extra £10 a month is sometimes required for the extra box to allow you to receive duplicate channels in another room. A cheaper option is to use a magic eye which is a cable and remote control that runs from your existing digibox. This option does not allow you to watch different channels from the other room unlike a multiroom subscription.

Freesat from SKY

Freesat from SKY is basically SKY but without the subscription costs. You will need to pay for the installation of a satellite dish and cabling (unless you have an existing SKY dish and cables) and you will need a SKY digibox and a viewing card. The viewing card will only enable you to watch the free to air channels. Box office, some interactive services and radio stations are also available. After the initial installation there are no other costs. If you have a SKY+ box you will need to pay £10 a month for the recording feature. Again two cables are required to one SKY+ box to enable recording and multiroom will require a cable to a separate box with a separate viewing card. A magic eye kit can be also used. If you already have SKY and are out of your twelve month contract you can buy a viewing card for around £20 and cancel your subscription. The programming guide will still show you all the channels SKY has but you will not be able to view the subscription channels.

Freesat

Freesat has been around for about a year now and uses the same dish and cables as SKY. New installations start from around £80 but you will need to buy a Freesat decoder from a high street retailer. These range from £45 for SD, £95 for HD and £290 for a HD recorder (the equivalent of SKY+ HD) which allows pausing and rewinding of live TV, program reminders and recording single programs and a whole series. Interactive services are available as are radio stations and at present both BBC HD and ITV HD are available (the latter being a red button service). The HD boxes also upscale SD channels to give an improved picture on an HD televison. The program guide is generally seven days which seems standard now. Once the initial installation is paid for and you have bought your choice of decoder the service is free. The HD channels are also free and BBC iPlayer will be available in late 2009. Rumour has it that Setanta are in talks with Freesat over possible football coverage which may require a subscription. Multi-room options are much the same as SKY. If you are fed up paying SKY and do not wish to spend £10 a month on SKY+ features then the £290 Humax HD recorder is a good option which costs much the same as 5-6 months of a SKY subscription. Alternatively buy a HD box for around £100 and replace your SKY+ box and add a £50 DVD recorder. Extra channels can be found if the box is switched to non-Freesat mode in the menu settings.

Freeview

Freeview covers less of the country at the moment than satellite. If you can receive a good Freview picture then all well and good but it is more likely you will need an aerial fitted for around £150. Freeview digiboxes start from around £20 and recorders can be had for around £90. The bandwidth is insufficient at present for HD channels but a Setanta subscription is available with a decoder if desired. Another subscription service is Top-Up TV which allows extra programmes for a monthly fee provided the digibox has the required card slot (as with Setanta) . Interactive services are included. At present BT Vision has iPlayer but requires a broadband connection.

Which One?

The choice of which digital TV to go for will most likely be decided by cost, the number of channels and HD availability as well recording ability. My money is currently going to SKY but I have Freesat in other rooms. Once my SKY+ HD subscription is up in a few months I have every intention of buying the Freesat HD recorder and saving myself around a £700 year in subscription fees. Freeview is not an option for me yet and the lack of HD makes it a less than attractive option. Freesat from SKY is a cheaper option but as more SD and HD channels arrive on Freesat along with the iPlayer I am finding this to be the most interesting option of the three.