Virgin Media wants a slice of the T and has launched a new service targeting people in non-cable areas of the UK.

Called Virgin Free TV it involves a tiny set-top box capable of bringing you 40 free-to-air channels once you sign up for Virgin’s 8Mb broadband and Talk Anytime phone bundle at £199.99 a month. There’s also a £40 set-up charge if you opt for the broadband service only. So, as you can see, it’s not actually free but works out at around £280 a year.

It is a very small set-top box though at 19 x 9cms – about the same size as a ‘ye olde video cassette’. It comes with a remote control and a very handy remote extender, which will allow you to hide this away in a press and still be able to change channels. Here are the key features of the service:

* over 40 free-to-air TV channels and over 25 digital radio stations

* an easy to use eight-day, Virgin branded, on-screen TV guide

* high quality reception plus access to interactive content via the red button

* customer service support online and over the phone

* plug 'n' play installation

* low power consumption using just 1/15th of the energy of a standard 60W lightbulb

Philip Snalune, managing director of non-cable at Virgin Media, said:

“Launching a basic TV service into non-cable areas enables us to expand availability of our quadplay of broadband, phone, mobile and TV. This is just the first step and our aim is to offer more advanced TV services across the UK throughout 2008. The digital switchover is just around the corner and we can now offer consumers across the UK a simple and low-cost way of making the digital leap, even if they can't get cable services."

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