Sky Vs Virgin Media

If you are looking for the cheapest “triple play bundle” of TV, Broadband and Home Phone –  there are usually some good deals available from both Sky and Virgin Media.

These companies are the two biggest digital TV subscription providers in Ireland. We have compared Sky Vs Virgin Media and picked their best deals available. We have 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 of 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?

We did a comparison of the deals on offer in July 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 – with broadband speeds up to 250Mb, Unlimited data, free calls to Irish landlines and mobiles 24 hours a day and 66 TV channels on their Horizon box. The price is €89 per month with the first 12 months at  €64 a month. Total cost in the first year: €798. More Details Here

We found a similar 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 90 TV channels.  The total cost of this in year one would be €740 (€57.50 a month for 12 months then €98.50 per month plus set up fee .) .  

The Virgin Media deal costs €58 more than Sky over the first 12 months  .

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

Broadband :

Virgin Media have faster speeds, up to 250Mb compared to a maximum of u pto 100Mb with Sky.
Sky use the same phone lines as Eir/Vodafone, while Virgin use their own cable network . The Virgin speeds should be better in the majority of cases.

TV:

The difference in TV channels at Sky Vs Virgin Media is significant. ( 90 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 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 July 23rd 2020

An 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 €65 a month reduced to just €20 for the first 6 months. That works out as €510 in the first year. (€288 less than Virgin). It comes with 55 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