What is a TV, phone and broadband deal?

A TV, phone and broadband deal bundles together all 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 ISPs 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?

TV is bundled with all types of broadband including ADSL up to 17Mb, fibre optic up to 76Mb and Virgin Media fibre up to 300Mb.

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. Huge range 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 an enormous amount of channels, plus free streaming and catch-up and optional extras.

Freeview

Other TV, phone and broadband bundles make use of Freeview TV enhanced with extras. Each provider offers its own 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. These can be pricey, however.

The Freeview based offerings from BT, EE, TalkTalk and NOW TV 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 quite the same breadth of 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 any of the available TV bundles, but in other places it may be more limited. To find out what’s on offer, enter a postcode into our comparison table 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. 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 usually be done very quickly with a phone call or through the provider's web site.

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.

Is a TV, phone and broadband deal right for me?

There are several pluses to putting your phone, broadband and television eggs in one basket. Combining them will usually give you a cheaper bill overall, as well as the convenience of only having to deal with one bill – not to mention one point of reference for your customer service and tech support calls.

Even if you already have a broadband 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 deals are available in your area. 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.

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.

Contract

The minimum contract length. It will usually be one to two years on a TV deal – although NOW TV does offer one month contracts. If you may be moving soon, you’ll need to consider if these services will be transferable to your new address.

Speed

How fast your broadband is likely to be, at least in theory – consider this to be the best you can expect. This will only really have a direct bearing on your television services if you go for a BT, TalkTalk, EE or NOW TV deal, and even then only if you really have problems getting up around 5Mb. Unless you have multiple people online and using bandwidth heavy services such as streaming - which are best served by fast fibre optic - anything above 10Mb should suffice for most online activities.

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!