Cablelink

This service is available in the Dublin region, Galway and Waterford and prices vary. In Dublin the basic service, not including installation, costs £96 a year and offers 14 stations, including all the terrestrial channels and Sky 1, Sky News, MTV, TV5, NBC Super Channel, Eurosport and Nickelodeon, a children's channel.

There is no fixed installation charge for Cablelink, it depends on whether the house is in an area which has been laid for cable already. The charge can be as low as £25 or as high as £120, although Cablelink says the average is £80.

Cablelink offers an MMDS service to some parts of north Wicklow, like Delgany and the basic service is £135, but without NBC Super Channel and TV5.

In Galway the basic service is £96, although if you are in an area where MMDS is offered it will cost £135. In Waterford, the basic service is £102 and includes all the channels offered in Dublin. Again some areas in Waterford are offered an MMDS service and this costs £135.

Cablelink offers all areas additional channels from Sky. For £9.99 per month, viewers can receive Sky Sport 1, 2 & 3, and for £17.99 per month they receive Sky Movies 1 & 2 and Sky Movies Gold.

For £25.99 per month they can receive all these channels. Customers have to pay £5 per month for a decoder, although MMDS subscribers do not have to pay this as they already have one.

CMI

Cable Management Ireland

Operates in several areas of the Republic and charges different rates for its basic service depending on where you are.

CMI customers in Portlaoise, Mullingar, Athlone, Ashbourne, Carlow, Celbridge and Maynooth are charged £123 a year for the standard CMI service, while customers in Donegal, Dundrum, Co Tipperary and Tullow are charged £88.92. MMDS customers in Donegal and Sligo face the highest charges of £129 for the basic service. The company says the reason for differences in prices are "historical".

The standard package varies, but not greatly. In most areas it means receiving RTE 1, Network 2, BBC 1, BBC 2, UTV, Channel 4, Sky One, Sky News, TNT/Cartoon Network, MTV, Eurosport and Telefis na Gaeilge.

Customers in Swords, Malahide and Athlone also get TV5, while customers in Mullingar do exceptionally well with UK Gold, NBC Super, Discovery and Living channels added to their standard package.

If a customer wants additional channels the choice is dependent on where they live. Customers in Swords, Malahide and Athlone can get what is called the Entertainment Extra package for £6.50 per month and this includes Challenge TV, Bravo, the Sci-Fi channel, EBN, Trouble, UK Gold, the Discovery channel, Discovery home and leisure, CNN, Living, VH1, QVC and Super Channel.

Sky Sports 1, 2 & 3 are available in Swords, Malahide, Carlow, Celbridge, Naas, Newbridge, Greystones, Mullingar, Navan, Tullamore and Ballina for £10.99 a month. Only Sky Sports 1 is available in all other areas for £9.99 per month.

Sky Movies 2 is available in all areas at £8.99 per month. Sky Movies 1 is available in Swords, Malahide, Athlone, Carlow, Celbridge, Naas, Newbridge, Greystones and Ballina at £8.99 a month. CMI charge a £75 installation fee for MMDS customers and between £56 and £78 for cable customers.

Irish Multichannel

This company, owned by Princes Holdings, has a licence to offer services in Limerick, Cork, Tipperary, Kerry, Clare, Westmeath, Kildare, Meath, Louth and Wexford.

It charges £150 a year for cable and about £175 a year for MMDS. However, its monthly charge is £18.50 for MMDS and £13.55 for cable. The standard service on MMDS gives the customer 10 channels, among them BBC 1, BBC 2, UTV, Channel 4, Sky One, Sky News, Eurosport, Discovery/Home Leisure, Trouble/the Local Channel, Bravo/QVC.

The standard cable service, which is provided in Cork city, for example, gives customers 12 channels, which are RTE 1, Network 2, BBC 1, BBC 2, UTV, Channel 4, Sky 1, Sky News, Eurosport, Discovery Channel/Home Leisure, Trouble/the local channel/Bravo/ QVC and Telefis na Gaeilge.

In terms of premium channels, Sky Sports 1 is offered to all customers at £10.99 a month. Sky Movies 1 is offered to all customers at £9.99 a month. They are the only two premium services offered to MMDS customers. Cable customers can avail of Sky Movies 2 at £9.99 a month and Sky Sports 2 and 3 at £10.99 a month.

Irish Multichannel charges an installation fee of £19.98 which can be higher if there is additional work to be done at a certain house.

Satellite

An increasingly popular option for those who cannot get enough television is buying your own satellite dish. There is a wide variety available with prices ranging from £339 to almost £1,000.

The most popular and cheapest model according to electrical shops and satellite dish specialists is the Pace MSF 100 which costs £339. This includes installation, a 12-month parts guarantee and 11 free channels, among them CNN, CNBC, Channel 5 and the Playboy channel.

According to Ms Claire Noctor, of Satellite Link, one of the largest satellite providers, the benefits of having a dish are that

subscribing to additional channels is cheap and the viewer has more options than with a cable or MMDS service.

For £11.99 a month you can get 29 additional channels including Sky's multichannel service, which includes all the sports and movie channels, plus the Disney channel, UK GOLD, Discovery, the Comedy Channel and the History channel. For £29.99 a month, customers can receive 36 channels.

"Motorised" satellites are much more expensive, starting at £740 (not including installation which can cost up to £150). They give you an almost endless choice of channels by scanning the sky and drawing down any transmission present. However, a motorised satellite will not give you access to Sky's services which are encrypted and require a monthly charge as outlined above.

The drawback of a satellite is you cannot receive any of the terrestrial channels, although the plans by the BBC, Channel 4 and ITV to simulcast (broadcast by satellite) in the near future are awaited with interest by those selling dishes.