Around a Quarter of Sky and Virgin Media Users Pay £100+ Monthly

A new survey from Which? has questioned 3,400 UK people about their triple-play bundles (TV, phone and broadband) during July 2018 and suggested that consumers may not be “getting value” from their packages. Cheaper options exist but it’s not always about the price.

The research found that TalkTalk and Plusnet ISP customers “tend to pay the lowest monthly fee” (most subscribers spent under £50 per month), while 41% of BT users paid between £50 and £75. Meanwhile it probably won’t come as too much of a surprise to learn that subscribers to Sky (Sky Broadband) and Virgin Media pay the most, with around a quarter at both in the £100+ bracket (see below).

At this point Which? acknowledges the elephant in the room by saying that “what’s included in a TV and broadband package obviously varies,” although their report then largely seems to ignore this critical factor by only focusing its public analysis upon price. This is a bit like comparing different models of car by only talking about how much they cost (one piece of information is little use without the other).

Both TalkTalk and Plusnet are budget ISPs that typically offer fairly basic bundles, often with paid upgrades available for premium TV channels etc. By comparison Sky and Virgin tend to be viewed as the market’s premium providers of Pay TV content and have some of the widest content / service selections. Not to mention Virgin’s distinctly faster cable broadband network and the issue of 4K (UltraHD) support.

Suffice to say that gauging the comparative value of different packages, channels and service features (particularly at the top end), is likely to be an exercise in frustration. Matters of personal preference may also weigh more heavily than the desire to save a little money. Make of this what you will.