TV packages

Please excuse my ignorance. We are moving home and I know the estate is wired up for NTL. I have never had to subscribe to TV packages before and was wondering are there any other options than NTL that we could implement. Basically we want to get rte 1, rte2, tv3, ch4, sky1, skynews, bbc1, bbc2, discovery, utv. Is there a cheap satellite option i could get? Is the sky service solely a satellite service or does it transmit through the phoneline (none in house)? Would I be wasting time hooking up a set of cats ears to get the basic channels and using free to air satellite to get the others?

Am I correct in saying that if we sign up to a digital package then we get one set top box which restricts viewing to one TV only? Is there a way to circumvent this or have different channels viewed in different rooms without paying a fortune in rental charges for set top boxes ?

bobo said:

We are moving home and I know the estate is wired up for NTL. I have never had to subscribe to TV packages before and was wondering are there any other options than NTL that we could implement.

Click to expand...

Is it a privately managed estate? Are there rules around putting up dishes etc.? Is it a new estate? If so, NTL may have exclusive rights to the development.

bobo said:

Is the sky service solely a satellite service or does it transmit through the phoneline (none in house)?

Click to expand...

Basic Sky does not require a phoneline. Sky+ and Sky HD 'may' require a phoneline (it is not necessary to make the technology work, but Sky insist that it is installed); I say 'may' because there are conflicting opinions on that story.

Does NTL/VirginMedia still have Sky1 & Sky News in Ireland?
Sky pulled out a few weeks ago from VirginMedia in the UK. Not sure if it applies to Ireland as well, but I would have thought so.