Time to leave Sky and Virgin? TalkTalk offers extra TV for free

Sky, BT and Virgin mind need to watch out as TalkTalk is clearly wanting a slice of the television action. The UK broadband supplier has just announced a big update to its TalkTalk TV option which now includes an extra 90 channels on top of what was already being offered. That means those signing up can view over 200 channels for just £4 per month.

The bonus channels include kids TV, sport, wildlife, news and documentaries with popular services including Bloomberg also now featuring.

Along with extra things to watch, the deal also includes a full 4K compatible set-top box that’s powered by Netgem TV. Like Sky Q, this device lets you pause and rewind live TV although it can’t record content to be viewed at a later date as there’s no hard disk inside.

The TalkTalk TV 4K Box ships with a remote with voice control capabilities, so you can search for your favourite shows, movies and apps with a quick voice command. TalkTalk is relying on Amazon’s chatty AI assistant Alexa to power this functionality, so those who already have an Amazon Echo smart speaker or two, you’ll be immediately familiar with how this voice-activated helper works. Searching with Alexa will hunt across all streaming services.

Sound enticing? To get this deal you will need to sign up for TalkTalk’s broadband with the cheapest 36Mbps speed option costing £24 per month. Add TV and you’ll pay a total of £28 per month.

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So how does this compare to the likes of Sky and Virgin Media?

The closest thing that Sky offers is its Q Lite bundle. This package offers 36Mbps broadband plus full Freeview access with over 200 channels with prices starting from £30 per month.

That’s just £2 per more than TalkTalk and does include that award-winning Sky Q set-top box which not only offers voice search and the option to pause TV but also the ability to store hours of TV and movies via its internal hard disk.

Virgin Media’s cheapest Big Bundle option costs £33 per month and features over 100 channels. Whilst it doesn’t feature as much to watch as TalkTalk, customers do get speedy 200Mbps broadband and it comes with Virgin’s TV 360 box which, like Sky Q, can record up to 500 hours of shows and is fully 4K ready.

If the TalkTalk deal has got you thinking about a switch to something here are some of the new channels coming to this platform.

Football TV, IGN TV, Boxing TV, Racing America, Movies Zone, Bloomberg, Classic Rock, Kids Zone, Cartoon TV, Nature Vision TV, Real Crime, Real Stories.

Speaking about the upgrade, Susie Buckridge, Group Product Director of TalkTalk, said: “At TalkTalk we strive to offer an industry leading customer experience at fantastic value for money as a result of our strategic partnerships with sector experts. It’s why we’re pleased to be able to give our 4K TV customers access to so many free new HD channels through our partnership with Netgem TV, offering entertainment for everyone no matter their viewing preference.”