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What is a TV, phone, and broadband deal?
A TV, phone, and broadband deal combines three services from the same provider, delivering a complete entertainment and communications solution in one tidy package.
These bundles are also known as triple-play deals.
Many of the best broadband providers now have a TV option alongside broadband, including all four of the UK’s leading home broadband providers (BT, Sky, Virgin Media, and TalkTalk) so there has never been a better time to be in the market for TV, phone and broadband packages.
Can I get fast broadband with a TV and phone bundle?
You can get TV bundled with all types of broadband including ADSL, fibre optic, and Virgin Media fibre.
What TV services are available with a TV, phone and broadband deal?
In the comparison table you’ll find the following TV services alongside phone and broadband:
Sky TV
Premium television beamed to your home via satellite. Sky TV offers a vast selection of channels, including top sporting events and on-demand content.
Virgin Media TV
Also known as cable TV, Virgin Media delivers its services over the same line used for broadband and phone so there’s no need for a satellite dish or any other external equipment. Like Sky TV, Virgin Media has lots of channels, plus free streaming and catch-up, and optional extras.
Freeview
Other TV, phone and broadband bundles such as BT TV, TalkTalk TV and Plusnet TV make use of Freeview TV enhanced with extras. Each provider offers a branded TV box with exclusive extras such as free sports and free on-demand content.
Which TV service is best for me?
The premium services from Sky and Virgin Media offer masses of channels and are particularly good for fans of movies, sports and US TV imports. But these can be expensive.
The Freeview based offerings from BT, EE, TalkTalk, and NOW can be much cheaper and may provide a little more flexibility when it comes to selecting the type of extra content you’re willing to pay for. But they don’t have as many channels.
What TV channels can I get with a TV and broadband bundle?
There are too many channels for us to list here, but available TV channels include:
- Sky One
- AMC
- Sky Atlantic
- BT Sport
- Sky Sports
- SyFy
- Discovery
- Disney Channel
This is in addition to the 60+ Freeview channels everybody receives at no extra cost.
What triple-play bundles are available in my area?
Some areas will be lucky enough to have the choice of many different TV bundles, but in other places, it may be more limited due to the availability of the broadband network. To find out what’s on offer, use your postcode to search and the deals will be filtered by location.
What are the cheapest TV, phone and broadband deals?
In general, the cheapest triple play bundles will be those that use Freeview boxes, such as BT TV, or TalkTalk TV. With these, you can usually opt for a basic bundle that includes a TV box but does not have any extra premium services. If you decide you'd like to add more channels later this can be done very quickly with a phone call or through the provider's web site. Channel package add-ons are usually available on a rolling monthly agreement so you can change them frequently without paying any fees.
Can I get TV and broadband without a phone?
TV and broadband bundles without a phone line are available from Virgin Media. All other providers use the Openreach (BT) telephone network and require an active telephone line.
Do I need a TV licence if I have a TV, phone and broadband bundle?
A TV licence is required to watch any live content, regardless of whether you’re viewing it through a TV aerial, satellite dish or streaming over the internet. TV bundles do not include a TV licence.
Will I get Wi-Fi with a triple-play deal?
Phone, TV, and broadband bundles will have everything you need to get online, including a Wi-Fi broadband router. This will usually be supplied at no extra cost.
Some broadband providers also offer free access to public Wi-Fi hotspots so you can get online outside the home without using mobile data.
Is a TV, phone, and broadband deal right for me?
There are several advantages to putting your phone, broadband, and television eggs in one basket.
Combining them will usually give you a cheaper bill overall; this often is much more cost-effective than getting separate TV, phone, and broadband only packages.
There's also the convenience of only having to deal with one bill, and one point of reference for your customer service and tech support calls.
Even if you already have a Wi-Fi deal with one of the TV service providers, you can usually find great offers to encourage you to add TV to your existing deal.
How can I find the best TV, phone and broadband bundle for me?
When comparing broadband always begin by entering a postcode. This will show what broadband deals are available in your area. You'll find a postcode checker further up this guide, or on any of our comparison tables.
With that done you can then begin comparing the offers. We provide filters to help you search through the deals. Use these to include stuff that’s important, and exclude features you don’t want. You can also sort the table to prioritise the deals by price, speed, contract, data limit, popularity and special offers. You can also use them to view specific types of offers, such as broadband with no upfront fees.
Monthly price
This is what you’ll pay per month for your broadband, phone, and television services. Line rental is included, but optional extra channels are not. Pay-per-view purchases and phone calls can also be added to the monthly bill.
Note that providers have the right to increase prices mid-contract, but some offer fixed-price guarantees which mean your bill won't increase during the initial contract term.
Contract
The minimum contract length. It will usually be 12, 18, or 24 months on a TV deal. If you may be moving soon, you’ll need to consider if these services will be transferable to your new address. Most packages will also require a credit check, with the exception of NOW Broadband.
Speed
This is the average speed of the service. This will only really have a direct bearing on your television services if you go for a BT, TalkTalk, EE, or NOW deal, and even then only if you really have problems getting a speed of 5Mb, which is the minimum you should aim for to stream video.
If you have multiple people online using bandwidth-heavy services such as streaming at the same, or if you want to view 4K UHD content, you should choose a fibre optic service.
Data limit
You should find that all but the cheapest TV, broadband and phone packages offer unlimited broadband. However, do look out for the dreaded small print as what you think ‘unlimited’ means may differ from your broadband supplier! Streaming TV uses lots of data so unlimited is always best for triple-play bundles.
Effective cost
Here we take the monthly prices but work in any setup fees and special offer discounts, showing you what you’ll actually pay per month over the whole contract (plus landline charges of course). This can be a real eye-opener!