Sky Vs Virgin Media

If you are looking for the cheapest “triple play bundle” of TV, Broadband and Home Phone –  there are sometimes special offers or discounts available from both Sky and Virgin Media.

These two companies are the biggest digital TV subscription providers in Ireland. We have compared Sky Vs Virgin Media and picked their best deals available. We also checked Vodafone’s TV/Broadband and Phone bundle as an alternative.

Firstly, if you don’t live in an area covered by Virgin Media then this comparison is not going to be much use to you. Virgin Media provide their TV , broadband and phone services via their own cable network. It is currently only available in Dublin, Cork City, Galway City, Limerick City and many areas of County Dublin. (You can check if Virgin is available where you live here )

Sky provide their TV via satellite dishes and their broadband and phone via the national telephone network. Although Sky Fibre is not available in all areas of the country – it should be available in all the places where Virgin Media is available.

How do Sky and Virgin Media Broadband and TV bundles compare on price – and what do you get for your money?

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We did a comparison of the deals on offer in December 2020 from Sky Ireland and Virgin Media Ireland.   We only looked at packages with unlimited broadband, inclusive anytime phone calls and TV with the lowest number of channels.

Cheapest Bundles

We found a package on Virgin Media – the “Big Bundle ” . It comes with

• Average broadband speed of 2450Mb,
• Unlimited data
• Free calls to Irish landlines and mobiles 24 hours a day
• 66 TV channels on their Horizon box.

The price is €92 per month with the first 12 months at  €69 a month. Total cost in the first year: €828.

More Details On the Virgin Offer Here

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We found a bundle from Sky on Switcher.ie that includes fibre broadband with speeds up to 100Mb (75Mb Average) , unlimited data and free calls to landlines all day as well as 53 TV channels.  The total cost of this in year one would be €920 (€72.50 a month for 12 months then €98.50 per month plus set up fee .) This is €100 more than the Virgin bundle in year one.

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What are the differences between the Virgin Media and Sky bundles ?

Broadband :

Sky uses the same phone lines as Eir/Vodafone, while Virgin use their own cable network.
Virgin Media have faster speeds, an average of 254Mps compared to a maximum of 100Mb with Sky.

TV:

The difference in TV channels at Sky Vs Virgin Media is not much . ( 53 on Sky vs 66 on Virgin). Some of these could be +1 channels or HD versions.   If there are specific channels you are interested in – you will need to check the provider’s details.

See below for details about adding ITV channels on Sky Ireland.

Phone

Both bundles include anytime calls to Irish landlines.

Virgin gives you free anytime calls to Irish landlines and mobiles plus 400 minutes per month of calls to landlines in 22 countries and USA mobiles.

With Sky you get unlimited free anytime calls to landlines in the UK, USA and 18 other countries – which could come in very handy if you have friends or relatives overseas. More details on Sky Ireland here

These prices were correct on January 2nd 2021

A Cheaper Alternative to Virgin and Sky

If you want a cheaper TV , Phone and Broadband deal – you might want to consider Vodafone.
If you are in an area with fast enough broadband – they are offering a bundle for €85 a month reduced to just €45 for the first 12 months. That works out as €540 in the first year. It comes with 80 TV channels and unlimited calls to landlines. Find out more Here

You should also check out our comparison of Broadband and Phone bundles where there are also some good offers.

Tip – Adding ITV channels to Sky in Ireland:

Press the Services button, then:
with ‘Options’ highlighted press 6, and with ‘Add Channels highlighted
press select and add the channels with the details below:

Frequency: Polarity: Symbol Rate: FEC:

UTV 10.906 V 22 5/6
ITV 1 10.758 V 22.0 5/6
ITV 2 10.758 V 22.0 5/6
ITV 3 10.906 V 22.0 5/6
ITV 4 10.758 V 22.0 5/6

More Sky Channels Here