Sky F1 and more Sky Sports accelerate onto Virgin Media
Virgin Media also says customers will shortly be able to watch Sky Sports and Sky Movies on the move, using dedicated apps.
Virgin Media has nabbed the rights to five of Sky's HD channels, including Sky F1 HD and Sky Sports News HD.
Virgin Media and Sky face new sports competition in the UK from BT, which launched its own Sports service last year. The new tie-up between rival providers takes the form of a five-year deal, and makes Sky F1 HD, Sky Sports 3 HD, Sky Sports 4 HD, Sky Sports News HD and Sky News HD available to Virgin Media customers.
Mobile viewing incoming
The deal also lets Virgin Media show its customers Sky programming through mobile gadgets, including "selected tablets and mobiles". Customers who've splashed out on Sky's film and sports packages will be able to watch Sky Movies and Sky Sports live and on demand using dedicated apps.
Watching Sky on Virgin Media isn't cheap, however. The Sky Sports package that gets you Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 2, Sky Sports 3, Sky Sports 4 and Sky Sports F1 costs from £27.25 per month, and to upgrade to the HD option costs an extra £7 on top of that.
Virgin Media said that customers who are already paying for the top-tier Sky Sports HD collection will see the new channels added at no extra cost. You can see all of Virgin Media's pricing options on its site.