Many people in the UK now have a digital TV service in their home. Although you may find a lot of British people will tell you that no matter how many channels you’ve got, there’s still nothing on!

But with the number of channels available and new ‘on-demand’ features, it is now unlikely you won’t find anything to watch. And besides this, the old way of getting TV in Britain will begin to be turned off in 2008. This means that the traditional way of receiving your signal through an aerial on the roof, to get the standard 5 British channels will no longer be possible.

Instead, we’ve all got to ‘go digital’. But this is not really bad news. As we said, many people already have a digital service, and if you haven’t, it’s worth investing in one because you get much more entertainment. And once you have got into digital TV, it is hard to live without.

Digital Programming

You can watch American and English programmes, from the Simpsons to Lost as well as films, documentaries and 24-hour world news. Plus with some services you can even watch them when you like instead of when they are due to come on the screen.

The cheapest way for you get digital TV is to buy a ‘freeview box’. This costs the least because once you have bought the box, you can watch as much as you want and you don’t pay any more (apart from the TV license that everyone in the UK must pay – see below).

With a standard ‘analogue’ TV signal, you only get BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. When you plug this box into your normal aerial, you will get extras like BBC3, ITV2 and 3, E4 (which has a lot of popular programmes like Friends and Scrubs) plus many more. And your picture quality will be better with the digital signal.

You can get a freeview box from electrical retailers. You can buy one for about £30. This will give you over 40 free channels all for the bargain price of £20!

If you still want more channels, or you want the ability to pause TV programmes, record them, or watch them when you like, you need to subscribe to a TV service provider. Note: except for Top-up TV, for this you will have to sign a 12-month contract.

There are various options available, and each has its own advantages:

Top-up TV

If you buy a freeview box, this simply ‘tops-up’ your service with an extra 19 channels. You get extra channels for the price of £9.99 a month. You can also pay extra to get additional sports channels.

Other Providers

One provider offers a 60-channel TV package with broadband and phone included. It also gives you free calls internationally so this may be a good choice for you. It costs from £20 a month.

Another provider also offers all three services together and has the advantage of having an on-demand feature so you can choose what you want to watch at any time.

More information on these services is available in the home multimedia section.

TV in the UK

Once you have your digital TV, you then have to search through the many channels you have to find what you want!

Here are a few tips:

Buy a newspaper, a TV magazine or check out the internet. In daily newspapers, there is always a TV guide to help you decide what to watch.

UK channels

BBC channels: The British standard channels are great to watch popular TV programmes. There is great variety on the BBC channels, and they produce some well-made original dramas. The news programmes are also interesting and reliable, and the great thing about the BBC channels is they don’t have adverts!

ITV and Channel 4: The other two oldest channels in the UK. ITV has more entertainment led programmes and Channel 4 has more fashionable programmes as well as in-depth news and documentaries.

Digital TV

There is something for everyone, ranging from natural world channels to comedy channels to repeats of all the old favourite TV programmes.

TV Licenses in the UK

Everyone with a TV in the UK has to have a TV license. This pays for the BBC channels (as they are not funded by advertising). This costs £145 a year and you can pay monthly or in one payment. Go to www.tvlicensing.co.uk if you haven’t already got a license.

For services relating to this topic, see our "Find a..." section. 

By Matt Taylor

USEFUL WORDS

Phrasal Verbs: Using a television/telly/TV

plug it in = connect to the electricity supply
turn it on / turn it off = switch it on / switch it off = power the machine by pushing a button
turn it up / turn it down = increase / decrease the sound volume
turn over = switch over = change the channel / programme

Types of Programme

Soap opera – a programme often on two or three times a week, which follows the lives of a group of people.  The stories are often exciting, dramatic and hard to believe!
Quiz or Game show – individuals or teams (contestants) answer questions or play different games against each other.  The winner gets a prize e.g. money or a holiday.
Chat show – a programme where a presenter talks to famous people about their lives.
Documentary – a film with factual information.
Series – a number of programmes about the same situation or the characters in different situations
Current affairs – programmes about a social or political problem happening now.

TALKING TV

What’s on TV tonight?
Is there anything on TV tonight?
What time’s the film on?
What’s your favourite programme?
I quite like TV commercials.
Are they showing the game live or just recorded highlights?
‘Friends’ is on tonight, but it’s a repeat.

GRAMMAR SPOT

Pronominal Forms

Demonstrative pronouns (this/that/these/those etc.), personal pronouns (it/her etc.), possessive pronouns (mines/theirs etc.) and one/the ones are often used to avoid repeating a noun:

Is this your TV guide?  No, this is mine.

Which programme do you want to watch?  The one at 10pm.

There/then are also often used to avoid repeating the noun:

I was meeting him at the electrical shop.  When I got there he’d gone.

It was 11pm.  I knew then that I’d missed the film.

Pronouns like that and this can also replace complete sentences and refer forwards or backwards in the text:

I decided not to watch the documentary.  That was a mistake.

You really have to understand this, I hate soap operas.