Cable TV in the UK

The UK is set to turn off analogue TV services between 2008 and 2012, and switch over to digital.

The cable TV service from Virgin Media is compliant with the digital TV requirements.

To find out if you're in a cable area, go to http://www.virginmedia.com and enter your postcode.

Not in coverage? See below...

Cable TV is dominant in certain built-up areas of the UK, but there's not been that much growth of Virgin's fibre optic network for a while now. Expansion of the Virgin Media cable network is expensive, and if you're not already in a cable area, we'd suggest you don't hold your breath.

If you're not in a cable area, you can still benefit from Virgin's broadband and phone services - but you won't get the benefits of their high-speed fibre-optic connection - details on virgin's site.

If you want the definitive answer on when (or if) cable will be coming to your area, you'll need to ask Virgin Media direct - here at Radio&Telly, we have no information about Virgin's expansion plans. You can contact Virgin via http://www.virginmedia.com.

No coverage? If you can't get Virgin, consider TV delivered via satellite, a TV aerial or over the net. Check out our Digital Options page.

We can also recommend BT Vision. Like Virgin, they offer TV content and movies on-demand over the Internet

They are no more. Telewest and NTL were rivals in the cable market. In 2007, they joined forces under the Virgin brand to become Virgin Media.

On the first of March 2007, the Sky channels Sky One, Sky Two, Sky News, Sky Travel and Sky Sports News were dropped from Virgin Media's Cable TV lineup, after Virgin failed to renew the broadcast contract.

There was lots of controversy about this at the time, something we covered in show 13 of our podcast.

From November 2008, the dispute was resolved, and the missing Sky channels finally returned to Virgin.

We had the following question from a visitor: "My TV has built-in Freeview, but my area will not have the digital signal until 2012. I watch TV through cable so am I right in thinking the freeview tuner or twin tuner will not be able to decode the cable signal?"

Correct. Although Freeview and Cable are both "Digital TV" services, they use a different technology and so you can't tune a Freeview receiver into a cable TV feed.

A site visitor asked us for advice about recording Virgin cable onto DVD. He wanted to be able to record one cable channel onto DVD whilst watching a different cable channel.

Well, a standard Virgin Media cable TV receiver box can only output one channel at a time. If you connect a TV and a recorder, they will both be fed the same TV channel from the Virgin box. To be able to handle two cable channels at the same time, the options are:

• Get a second Virgin Media V box (one for your TV and one for your recorder)
  
  
• Get a Virgin Media V+ box. This has a built-in hard-disk recorder and will let you record a digital channel onto the onboard storage while you watch a different channel.
  

Go to www.virginmedia.com to order either of these boxes.

Q. Can I use an HDMI lead instead of a co-ax lead to connect to my TV? Is there any advantage to using an HDMI lead if there is no HD content at this time?

A. Thanks to Nicholas Divers for the following: "HDMI cables CAN be used to link TV's to Virgins V+ box. V+ also upscales the picture of SD broadcasts to HD. "

Q. Will the V+ box will allow me to record to it, and to record to my DVD recorder at the same time ?

A. Yes, this is possible. If you connect the output of the V+ box to the input of a DVD recorder, then the output of the V+ box can be recorded.
We've also been told by one of our forum regulars, MrHappy, that the V+ box has a handy extra feature. The V+ box has two SCART sockets - you can record onto DVD using SCART 2 while watching a different programme via a TV connected to SCART 1 (Press V+ > 'V+ Extras' > 'Copy to VCR/DVD').

Q. Can I get the BBC iPlayer?

Yes, from April 2008, the BBC's catch-up TV service, BBC iPlayer, became available on Virgin Media. You can access it via the Red button. More on our Unofficial Guide to the iPlayer.

Q. Will the V+ box record different channels at the same time for viewing later? How can one record several programmes at the same time ?

A. Many PVRs have a twin-tuner, but the Virgin Media V+ box has three tuners (beating Sky+). This means that the V+ box can record two channels while you watch a third. Handy for good telly nights. You use the Virgin Media V+ on-screen EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) to select shows for recording.