Sky Sports HD arrives on Virgin Media

Virgin Media has confirmed that it will be showing Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 HD from 2 August, with the company charging its customers £7 a month to upgrade a standard def sports package.

With BT making a huge effort to push its standard def Sky Sports package, Virgin Media will no doubt be reminding people that it will be carrying the high definition versions.

The cheapest way you can get the Sky Sports channels in HD is to take the M+ TV with Sky Sports and HD subscription and take a Virgin Media phone line which will set you back £44.99 per month.

Bolt-on fee

The £7 bolt-on HD subscription will give access to 'subscribed Sky Premium' HD channels, so if you have the Sky Movies package, or are going to sign up for it, then you will get HD versions.

"The new Sky Sports HD channels will be available from August 2nd and will cost just £7 per month on any TV package when subscribing to Sky Sports in standard definition," explains Virgin Media.

"The optional HD subscription covers all available HD versions of subscribed Sky Premiums including Sky Sports HD1 and HD2 and ten Sky Movies HD channels, though high definition versions of standard channels (such as BBC, ITV1, FX, Eurosport and SyFy) remain free of additional subscription costs, giving customers a simple upgrade path to take advantage of HD content as they choose."

Sky 1 HD

The deal also sees the arrival of Sky 1 HD and Sky Arts HD to the basic HD channels (so no bolt-on fee required).

This take the total number of HD channels available on Virgin Media to 30, with the launch of Film 4 HD giving the platform another exclusive HD channel.

Cindy Rose, executive director of digital entertainment said: "As the new home of HD telly, we're delighted to bring our customers Sky Sports in HD at incredibly competitive rates.

"With the rapid growth of HD content, customers are demanding more and more from their TV service, and with our growing range of HD channels and on demand content in HD, Virgin Media is the best place for the whole families' entertainment needs."