Searching for a new TV provider? We're spoilt for choice - and a little confused

TV– it’s not what it used to be. For many of us growing up, TV was limited to a handful of channels and, if you missed your favourite show, the most you could hope for was that it would be repeated at some point, preferably before any of your friends spoiled the whole thing for you.

Things have moved on. Thankfully. Now you can pause and rewind live TV, set your set-top box to record programmes through your smartphone when you are out of the house, watch live TV on your tablet when the main set is occupied, and catch up on TV shows when you feel like with on-demand programming. It’s a brave new world.

We're not stuck with a small number of providers either. In the past few years, both Eir and Vodafone have joined the list of TV companies, providing some competition for the well-established players Sky and Virgin Media. More competition has to be good news for consumers, doesn't it?

When it comes to TV, exactly what are your options?

Saorview:

Ireland's answer to Freeview, Saorview requires only a compatible TV or set-top box, an aerial and after that you never have to pay another cent. Apart from your TV licence, of course. Saorview channels are free to air, so you get all the RTÉ digital channels, TV3 and TG4.

In the past few years, the Saorview service has expanded, with new boxes that allow you to pause and rewind live TV, just like their pay-TV counterparts. These are worth the investment if you don’t watch TV according to a linear schedule and if you don’t have great broadband that would allow you to download the programmes from catch-up players.

You can also get better equipment now, too, with approved combi-TVs or set-top boxes that will also allow you to hook up an aerial and satellite dish to get free-to-air channels from the UK.

Where Saorview falls behind its pay TV counterparts is on on demand. You’re limited to on-demand services from the individual channels such as TV3’s 3Player and the RTÉ Player. If you have a smart TV, you’ll be able to download certain apps.

The good news: It’s a good way of keeping your TV costs down. Once you have compatible equipment, there is no further monthly bills.

The bad news: If you’re comparing it to pay-TV packages, you’ll still find fewer channels on Saorview. Although chances are you probably won’t miss them – aren’t we always saying there’s a few hundred channels and nothing on TV anyway?

Virgin Media:

Formerly known as UPC Ireland, Virgin Media came into existence in October last year with Richard Branson riding into the RDS on a Virgin-branded truck. What people may not have known was the company was already owned by the Virgin group, having become part of it the previous December. But UPC – Or Virgin Media ireland, to be exact – was keen to stress that this was more than a simple name change.

So what has changed? On the TV service front, not a lot. As under UPC, the digital TV package offers more channels than you’ll ever need and on-demand box sets and movies with the My Prime service, which is included as part of your Horizon TV subscription. If you want something a little more up to date, you can rent movies from Horizon’s store. You can also watch TV outside the house on your Horizon Go app, but only 29 channels are included as part of this deal.

Virgin has also brought in Replay TV on selected channels – RTÉ One and 2, TV3, 3e – so if you miss the start of a programme, you can wind things back to the beginning, or catch up on what you’ve missed over the past seven days. It’s not available on all channels, although Virgin said it will be adding more over time. Also part of the service is access to the replay services from RTÉ and TV3, among others.

The good news: Bundle your TV with broadband and you might find you save a bit on your overall TV/broadband bill. You can also record four TV shows at once while watching a fifth live.

The bad news: Extra channels such as Sky Atlantic are unavailable and the recent dispute with Eir over Setanta Sports means you can’t get BT Sport either – for now.

Sky

Sky latest offering is Sky Q, its so-called “fluid viewing” TV package. To the rest of us, that means you can start watching TV on a tablet and then move to the main TV, or vice versa, and it picks up wherever you left off. Depending on the box you choose, you can record four shows and watch a fifth, storing up to 1,000 hours of recordings on the 2TB box.

Sky has added some extras to the Q service since its launch: the Ultra HD programming, if you have a 4K TV, and split-screen viewing – so you can watch two football matches at the same time, for example.

The whole system works quite well, although the programme guide can be a little daunting for the uninitiated – so many options, from TV Guide and recordings to My Q, make it a little complicated to work through.

The extra boxes you might want for your bedroom or family room are no longer a complicated affair; they are plug and play Sky Q Mini devices that you can switch to a different room if you need to, without a visit from an engineer and a call-out fee. If you have Sky’s broadband package too, the Mini boxes also work as wifi extenders, meaning an end to wifi dead zones around your home.

The app works well too, allowing you to download your recordings to your iPad and watch offline or while you’re outside the house – for a limited time.

The good news: As far as on demand offerings go, you need never watch live TV again. You can use catch up to view programmes you’ve missed and, over time, Sky Q learns what you like and suggests shows it thinks you might enjoy.

The bad news: Sky Q costs more than the normal package and needs an extra box to allow you to connect the Q Mini/apps to it.

Eir

Eir Vision TV entered the market at the tail end of 2013, as Eircom Vision. Now rebranded in line with its new corporate identity, Eir Vision TV is taking on the TV titans. Its basic package offers 54 channels to customers, including the mainstay Irish options, with more expensive packages bumping up the number of channels and adding things like Sky Sports and Cinema to the mix. The basic pack includes the Disney channel too, which is so far, so good. It also comes with the ability to pause, rewind and record live TV and access it while out of the house with Eir Vision Go.

You have to buy the TV service as part of a bundle – you need Eir’s 100Mb fibre broadband anyway – but if you are already an Eir customer, this might actually save you money in the long run.

The good news: Getting Eir TV means you have Eir broadband – which automatically includes a free subscription to Eir Sports.

The bad news: You can only access Eir’s TV service if you have access to its fibre broadband service. That means if you’re in an area where the company has yet to roll out its high speed network, forget it.

Vodafone TV

The newest entrant to Ireland’s TV market, Vodafone TV launched at the start of this year. It offers a similar service to Eir, in that you get 54 channels as your basic service, and it has to be part of a bundle – although one of the TV channels advertised on the website is BBC3, which no longer exists as a separate TV channel and can now only be found online. Looking at the list of available channels, there are a few you’ll never have heard of: Tru TV, Watch, Yesterday.

Like Virgin and Eir, multiroom will cost you extra every month on Vodafone, but it is wireless multiroom, which means no extra cables to trip you up.

High-definition channels are part of the standard package, and there's even a dedicated Netflix button on the remote control, so you'll be able to indulge your Stranger Things or House of Cards addiction that little bit easier.

The good news: Vodafone includes a free add-on for six months as part of its promotional offer, which could be Eir and BT sports, or Netflix.

The bad news: Like Eir, you need to have Vodafone’s broadband to access the TV service. If you’re not in an area served by the company, your options shrink dramatically.