In order to view the services on NTL, a subscription is required. A variety of packages are offered and a summary of these are shown in the table below together with how much they cost.

Sub:  

NTL offer a free Digibox and free installation. Sometimes other deals are offered for a limited period as well, for example, there might be an option to get the first month free when subscribing to the Family Pack. Refer to the NTL website to find out what's currently available.

It is important to know that when subscribing to any services, the subscription must be kept for at least 12 months.

The premium and stand-alone channels, which are shown below the "Family Pack" prices in the table above, require their own subscription fees in addition to the regular subscription, so the total subscription cost for these is dependant on which package is chosen. Only some are listed in the table and the services own websites should otherwise be observed for more details. Refer to the NTL website for alternative subscription options.

The Select Pack is the minimum package available. This one or a higher one is required to access all of the Digital TV services including interactive services, stand-alone channels or the use of Pay-Per-View (PPV) and Pay-Per-Night (PPN) services. Pay-Per-View services are ones where instead of paying a monthly subscription, only one selected film or event is paid for. PPN services can allow either a single nights viewing or up to 24 hours of viewing.

In Addition to Digital TV, NTL also offer Broadband Internet and a telephone line.

A phone line can be connected without subscribing to any Digital TV packages. There are five phone options. The cheapest one costs £10.50 a month and this one is automatically included when subscribing to any of the digital TV packages. It allows unlimited local calls during weekends and unlimited calls to other local NTL phone users during evenings, which means that the call charges per minute for other local and national calls (at local rates) are included in the monthly subscription during those periods. For £10.50 a month, calls cost 5p for up to 60 minutes during weekends and evenings for local and national calls. For £12.50 a month the "Talk Unlimited Local" package is available which offers unlimited local calls during weekends and evenings. For £16.50 a month the "Talk Unlimited" package is available which offers unlimited local and national calls during evenings and weekends. For £25.00 a month, "Talk Unlimited 24" offers unlimited local and national calls at all times. All these options can be upgraded to from any of the TV packages. Refer to the NTL website for more information.

The cheapest Internet option is Dial-up and allows up to 56kb of bandwidth and it costs either £13.49 a month or 1p per minute as Pay-As-You-Go. The cheapest broadband Internet option from NTL has a bandwidth of 1MB and costs £17.99 a month, 2Mb costs £24.99 a month and 10Mb costs £34.99 a month. Sometimes other deals are offered for a limited period, such as free broadband for the first month. Refer to the NTL website for more information.

NTL can combine packages of phone, digital TV and Internet. For example, for £29.99 a month, phone and surf allows unlimited local and national calls during evenings and weekends in addition to dial-up Internet. Refer to the NTL website for more information.

NTL offer some optional extras to the TV packages. An additional set-top box for an additional £15.00 per month, Internet using the TV set for £8.50 per month or receiving the weekly Radio Times magazine for £4.00 per month. Refer to the NTL website for more information.

NTL offer a feature called Video-On-Demand (VOD). This is where, ideally, movies, music or general TV programmes can be ordered interactively and viewed almost immediately. Some of these are free, but it is likely that most will require stand-alone-payments. VOD is currently only in its early stages on cable TV in the UK, but in the future, should offer a new method of TV viewing.

It is highly likely that NTL will launch a PVR system similar to that of Sky+ in the near future. This would allow features such as live pausing and watching one programme while recording another using an internal hard-disk-drive inside the Digibox.