Sky TV & broadband vs Virgin Media

While Sky and Virgin Media are both popular broadband providers, they're especially dominant when it comes to TV and broadband bundles – together they're responsible for three quarters of bundle customers.

It's perhaps not surprising. The two companies are well known, and both offer a wide range of content across hundreds of channels. But which should you choose when taking out a new deal? Read on to find out how they compare.

To discover how the two compared with rival providers, head to our round-up of the best and worst TV and broadband providers.

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Sky TV and Virgin Media: which is best?

Sky is best known as a pay-TV provider, although it also offers broadband, home phone and now mobile phone services. Like BT, EE and TalkTalk, Sky's broadband service is supplied using the Openreach network. Its TV channels were traditionally received by a satellite dish attached to your property, though now they'll usually come via your broadband connection.

In contrast, Virgin Media specialises in broadband, although it also offers pay TV, and home and mobile phone options. Virgin's TV services are supplied through its own fibre-optic network, which consistently offers fast broadband speeds but isn't as widely available as Openreach.

Both providers offer long contracts – typically 18 months. Virgin Media also offers a rolling, 30-day option for its broadband and phone deals.

To help you compare the two providers and weigh up which would be best for you, we've pulled the key details into the table below. 

Sky TV and Virgin Media compared

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Sky and Virgin Media: which offers better broadband?

Virgin Media's strength is its broadband service. Because it runs on fibre cables, it offers the fastest speeds available from mainstream providers – its TV and broadband deals have average speeds of 54Mbps, 108Mbps, 213Mbps, 362Mbps, 630Mbps or an eye-watering 1,130Mbps (1.1Gbps). Virgin Media's packages also include unlimited downloads, and it no longer applies traffic management to downloads or uploads. You can sign up for a Virgin Media broadband deal without paying for a home phone service, although the promotional deals it offers (on broadband and phone deals) mean that this doesn't always work out cheaper.

Sky offers the typical speeds seen from providers using the Openreach network. Its widely available fibre offerings have average speeds between 36Mbps and 61Mbps. Customers in some areas can access Sky's ultrafast broadband deals, which have average speeds of 145Mbps, 500Mbps and 900Mbps. Like Virgin Media, Sky doesn't apply any traffic management, its packages include unlimited data and you don't have to take a phone line if you won't use it.

Read our in-depth round-ups of the TV and broadband services offered by Sky and Virgin Media – and how satisfied their customers are – using our TV and broadband provider reviews.

Sky and Virgin Media: which is better for home phone?

Sky's basic broadband, TV and phone deals don't have any inclusive calls – you'll either need to pay as you go or add a calling plan. The cheapest calling plan provides free evening and weekends call to UK mobiles and landlines, and usually costs £5.75 a month, though Sky may offer discounts on this.

Virgin Media's TV and broadband packages include free weekend calls to UK landlines and Virgin Mobile numbers.

Read our reviews of cordless home phones to see which models rate for call quality, nuisance call blocking and other handy features.

Sky and Virgin Media: pay TV compared

While Virgin Media is well known for its broadband, Sky is the king of pay TV – it does deals that are limited to free-to-air channels, but if you opt for its pay-TV package, you'll get more than 300 channels including Sky Atlantic – home to popular shows such as House of the Dragon, The Last of Us and The White Lotus. You can pay more to get additional channels, including movie and sports options, or to get extra TV boxes that allow you to watch in more than one room.

All Sky packages come with its new Sky Q 1TB box as standard. This lets you pause and rewind live TV, record multiple channels while watching another, and access on-demand content. You can also pay extra for a 2TB version of the Sky Q, allowing you to record double the amount of television – up to 1,000 hours of standard definition. 

Virgin Media doesn't have any of its own TV channels, but it does offer most of the key channels that you get from Sky. You can even watch Sky Sports and Sky Cinema, although Sky doesn't allow access to Sky Atlantic. Bear in mind that Virgin's TV packages include a smaller selection of channels – for example, Virgin's basic Big bundle package only includes 100 channels. Virgin Media now supplies all customers with its TV 360 Box, which offers much of the same functionality as the new Sky Q box, and has 1TB storage capacity. 

What extras do Sky and Virgin Media offer?

Both services have accompanying apps that let you check TV listings and set recording schedules while on the go, and even stream live TV to your mobile device. You can also download shows to watch them offline, and resume watching a show that you'd paused on either the Sky Q or Virgin TV 360 boxes.

Which should you pick?

As shown above, both Sky and Virgin Media have their own strengths and weaknesses. Your choice will be determined by whether the broadband or television aspect of your bundle is more important to you. If you want the fastest broadband, then Virgin Media is probably the better option; if you're after the widest choice of TV shows, then Sky will likely be the better bet.

But there's more to choosing the best provider than simply looking at what it offers – it's also useful to know more about the customer service provision and value for money. And it's important to remember that Sky and Virgin Media are not your only options – providers such as BT, EE and TalkTalk also offer TV and broadband services, and some have particularly satisfied customers. 

Find out which TV and broadband services are available where you live - and how much they cost - using the free broadband comparison service from Which?