Britain’s cable TV operator Virgin Media has announced the launch of a new digital TV service to consumers living in non-cabled areas – expanding availability of its quadplay of broadband, phone, mobile and TV services beyond its cable franchise network.
The service uses the digital terrestrial television platform (DTT) and a new set-top box to offer consumers over 40 free-to-air TV channels and over 25 digital radio stations, an easy to use eight-day, Virgin branded, on-screen TV guide plus access to interactive content via the red button.
The set-top box has a sleek, matt black design and measures just 19cms by 9cms – roughly the same size as a video tape. The box also comes with a stylish remote and remote control extender, which means you can hide the box out of sight, whilst continuing to use the remote.
The box will be free to any Virgin Media non-cable customer taking the up to 8Mb* broadband and Talk Anytime phone bundle at £19.99 a month. For non-cable customers taking a broadband service on it’s own, a one-off charge of £40 will apply.
Philip Snalune, managing director of non-cable at Virgin Media, said: "e;Launching a basic TV service into non-cable areas enables us to expand availability of our quadplay of broadband, phone, mobile and TV.
�This is just the first step and our aim is to offer more advanced TV services across the UK throughout 2008.
UPDATE: Read our exclusive review of the V Box�