TV writer Jake Hackney has taken a look at Sky and Virgin Media’s winter deals, as both providers cut hundreds of pounds off their TV and broadband plans
We’re now into our second week of 2025, and the January sales are in full swing. Everywhere you look there’s discounts and deals coming from all angles, so it can be tricky to decipher which are actually worth your money.
One particular deal that’s caught our eye is in Virgin Media’s winter sale, which has seen more than £500 knocked off select TV and broadband plans. Until February 5, shoppers can get the provider’s Biggest Combo bundle from £69 a month, a huge £28 saving each month and £504 over the life of the plan.
While not the cheapest option on the market, this includes superfast 516Mbps fibre broadband, more than 210 TV channels and a Netflix subscription. There’s also the option to upgrade to 1,130Mbps for an extra £4.
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But Virgin has also cut the price of its lower-cost plans to make them even more affordable. Prices now start at £33 per month for the Bigger Combo bundle, which comes with 362Mbps broadband and more than 200 TV channels, so this may be a more suitable option if you have a home with four to six people and around 10 devices using the internet.
Now to complicate things, Sky has launched a new deal that rivals Virgin’s. Sky had already unveiled some of its January deals earlier this month, including offering its Full Fibre 150Mbps broadband plan for its lowest-ever price of £27 a month and six months half price on select Sky Mobile data plans.
But now there’s another new offer in the mix that saves shoppers £120. Sky has cut £5 per month off its Essential TV, Netflix and Full Fibre 150 broadband bundle, which now comes in at its cheapest-ever price of £35 per month.
While this is £2 more than Virgin’s deal, what it includes is slightly different. With this plan, members can enjoy more than 100 TV channels including Sky Atlantic, the UK home of blockbusters like The Day of the Jackal and The Penguin, plus the upcoming second season of The Last of Us.
It also comes with subscriptions to Netflix and Discovery+, which usually cost £4.99 and £3.99 respectively. All of this comes via a Sky Stream puck, the new plug-in-and-play gadget that provides access to live and on-demand TV over WiFi rather than a satellite dish or aerial.
There’s also the option to upgrade the package to include a new Sky Glass TV if your current model is in need of replacing. For an extra £14, you can get all the above benefits plus Sky’s own 4K QLED smart TV that comes with Sky TV and streaming apps built in.
This takes the total cost to £49 per month, which may seem pricey but you’re getting a new 4K smart TV, hundreds of TV channels, Netflix and Discovery+ access, plus 150Mbps fibre broadband, all in one convenient plan. However, it’s worth keeping in mind that Sky says its prices may change within the life of the contract and, like many providers, usually up their prices in April.
This goes for Virgin too, but its contracts run for 18 months compared to Sky’s 24, meaning you are free to shop around for a new deal sooner. So when choosing which deal to go for, it really boils down to which TV channels you want to watch, and which provider can offer you the best broadband service.
Sky Atlantic is home to Sky’s biggest series, many of which come from US partner HBO, and while Virgin does provide several Sky channels, this isn’t one of them. So if you don’t want to miss out on the latest series of The Last of Us and The White Lotus, you may be better off with Sky’s deals.
Virgin broadband also runs on different lines than Sky – which uses BT’s lines – so it’s worth checking your coverage with each provider first as one may offer you faster speeds than the other. You can check your coverage by entering your postcode with both Sky and Virgin Media.
