Best TV provider for multiroom

Multiroom allows a pay TV service to be accessed in additional rooms in the home away from the main box-set.

Sky Stream customers can add up to three additional Puck boxes with Whole Home, while Sky Q customers can add up to four mini boxes.

Virgin Media TV customers can add up to five extra boxes, while BT TV offers one additional box with the Extra Box add-on.

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How does multiroom work?

'Multiroom', 'multiscreen', or 'extra box' services allow a premium pay TV customer to access their subscription in a second room in the home by providing an additional box connected to their plan.

Often, multiroom services offer more than one additional box, so customers can access two to four more boxes to cover bedrooms and any family rooms separate to main TV in the living room or lounge.

Newer boxes, like those from Sky Stream, BT's Extra Box and Virgin Stream boxes, can deliver content over a WiFi or Ethernet connection to the router. However, older Virgin Media TV 360 mini boxes that may still be available for existing customers need their own cable connection from outside the house, so that's worth bearing in mind.

While multiroom add-ons do come with an extra cost, it's often a lot cheaper than having to take out a separate pay TV plan just to watch programmes in another room.

That said, for those on a budget, Sky and Virgin Media both offer customers Android, iOS, Fire, Windows, and Mac, apps which allow for viewing on laptops, tablets and mobile devices at no extra cost.

Where plans include subscriptions to on-demand services, like Netflix however, customers may need to upgrade their plan to cover watching on more devices simultaneously.

Which TV providers offer multiroom?

Three of the biggest pay TV providers in the UK offer a multiroom service, including Sky, Virgin Media, and BT.

Here are the prices and available options for multiroom services from each of these providers:

Virgin Media's multiroom service is changing at the moment due to their rollout of full fibre broadband no longer supporting the TV 360 service.

New customers signing up even in existing coaxial cable, or DOCSIS 3.1, areas are also now being offered Stream boxes for multiroom instead of the TV 360 mini box. The upside to this however, is the Stream box doesn't require an additional cable connection like the TV 360 mini box did, and customers can have up to five extra boxes instead of just one.

Virgin Media broadband customers who sign up to the new Flex service however, don't have a multiroom service available to them. However, they will be able to access content on the Virgin Media Go app at no extra cost.

How to choose the right multiroom service

Multiroom services enable households to watch multiple channels at the same time and access TV services in different areas of the home.

For some, whether a TV provider offers multiroom will be an important element when they're comparing TV deals.

Here are some key questions customers should ask when looking at a multiroom service:

1. How much does the multiroom service cost each month?
2. Are there upfront costs involved?
3. Is the number of additional boxes sufficient for a household's needs?
4. Are the extra boxes 4K-ready and is this important?
5. How many boxes can be viewed simultaneously?
6. How long is the contract for the multiroom service?
7. Does the provider offer viewing on apps that could be sufficient instead?

Different households will have different answers to these questions, and each multiroom provider offers a slightly different service as we explore below.

For example, Sky TV is the only provider offering TV that doesn't need to be taken with broadband, while Virgin Media and BT have no upfront costs.

Price will also come into the equation, with each provider having different ongoing and upfront costs, for example, Virgin Media charge more monthly for each extra box, while Sky only charge additional upfront costs.

Multiroom offers

Providers occasionally make multiroom upgrade offers available to their existing customers, sometimes to help lock them into a new contract.

That said, it's worth being aware that some of the best deals may not be advertised.

Customers should certainly keep an eye out for upgrade offers - for instance, Sky are noted for running discounted upgrades on a frequent basis, particularly over bank holiday weekends.

However, even if an offer is advertised, it might not be the best you can get, and it can pay to haggle.

For those willing to give it a go, one of the main weapons potential upgraders should have in their arsenal is a knowledge of the general offers available for new customers and what they receive for their money.

Sky Whole Home

Best for: Wire-free access to premium Sky content in up to four additional rooms.

Sky Whole Home is the multiroom service for Sky's new streaming service, Sky Stream, as well as on Sky Glass.

Customers are provided with additional Sky Stream Puck boxes that are the same device as the main Stream boxset, so there is no loss of features in additional rooms.

Here are the main features of Sky Whole Home:

• Sky charge an upfront fee for additional Puck boxes, but the monthly fee remains the same regardless of how many additional boxes are added, so it's cheaper in the long-term
• Customers can add up to four additional boxes, with the first box provided at no extra cost, while subsequent boxes cost £39.95 one-off per box
• The minimum term contract is only 31 days
• Connecting additional boxes is straightforward, as they only need a power supply and a WiFi connection to the main router

Unlike Sky Q mini boxes, Sky Puck boxes don't act as a wireless booster for the broadband, but Sky broadband customers can access their WiFi Max add-on for £4 per month if they feel the wireless signal needs boosting around the home.

Sky TV customers can also access the Sky Go app, which allows them to watch subscribed content on additional devices at no extra cost, including game consoles like PlayStation and Xbox, both Windows and Apple laptops, as well as Android and iOS tablets and smartphones.

Sky Q Multiscreen

Best for: Existing Sky Q subscribers who want to watch premium content in additional rooms in their home, although only where up to two boxes will be used at the same time.

Sky Multiscreen allows customers to watch their Sky Q subscription content on Sky Q Mini boxes around the home.

These boxes are connected to the main Sky Q box via wi-fi or powerline adaptors that send data over the mains power cables and then to the box via an Ethernet LAN cable, making it easy to wire boxes across different rooms in the home.

Here are the main points to know about Sky Multiscreen:

• The service costs £15 per month on top of a customer's Sky TV subscription
• It comes with one Sky Mini box
• Extra Sky Mini boxes can be purchased for £20 each with no extra ongoing costs (up to a maximum of four)
• Customers commit to a 24-month contract

While Sky TV doesn't have to be taken alongside Sky broadband, it's worth highlighting that Sky Mini boxes can also act as wi-fi boosters when the services are used together.

Something to note is that Sky Q Mini boxes only support 720p and do not support Ultra HD content, even if the Mini is connected to a UHD-ready TV.

Content can be watched concurrently on up to two Sky Q Mini boxes at a time, taking the total number of TVs that can be watched simultaneously up to three.

As with Sky Stream, Sky Q customers can also access the Sky Go app to watch content on additional devices including computers, tablets and mobile phones.

There's also the option with Sky Go to register an Xbox or PlayStation to use as one of the viewing devices, and four devices can be registered in total.

Virgin Media Multiroom

Best for: Those who want to watch TV in up to six rooms on a flexible basis, with a free whole home WiFi guarantee included.

Virgin Media Multiroom now allows customers to take up to five additional Stream boxes with their Virgin TV package.

Multiroom is only available with the pre-made bundles, like the Bigger Bundle, Biggest Bundle, and Mega Volt Bundle. It's not available with the new Flex TV service, despite using the same Stream boxes.

Here are the key points:

• Virgin Media Multiroom costs £10 per month for the first extra box, and then an extra £5 per month for each additional box up to five extra boxes
• There is no upfront cost for Virgin Media Multiroom or to access the additional boxes
• Customers are provided with Stream boxes with Multiroom, which supports Ultra HD and can be connected via WiFi
• Customers get Virgin Media's WiFi Max whole home WiFi guarantee included at no extra cost, so they can be sure wireless signal for streaming TV will be good in all rooms in the home

The move from TV 360 mini boxes to using Virgin Media's new Stream boxes has a number of upsides, most notably ease of installation with Stream connecting over WiFi, while TV 360 mini boxes needed their own coaxial cable connection from outside, which could limit the rooms where a second box could be installed.

Like Sky, Virgin Media also have an app called Virgin TV Go, which allows customers to watch subscribed content on laptops and tablets, including Android, iOS, Windows 10, PC and Mac.

BT TV Extra Box

Best for: Homes that only want to watch TV in one additional room.

BT Extra Box is a second TV box that can be added to BT TV packages for just £10 per month with no upfront costs.

Customers are provided with the BT TV mini box, which supports 4K Ultra HD as well as Dolby Atmos sound. It's smaller than the main BT TV box and can't record TV, however, it can pause and rewind live TV for up to two hours.

In addition, unlike the main box which can receive an aerial connection, the BT TV mini box only requires a WiFi or Ethernet connection to the router, and streams free-to-air channels over the Internet.

Here are some of the main points about BT Extra Box:

• It costs an extra £10 per month and can be added to any BT TV plan
• BT broadband customers will need minimum download speeds of 40Mbps or more
• Those with poor WiFi signal can improve coverage with BT's Complete WiFi add-on

BT also offers an app that allows customers to watch their content on additional devices at no extra cost, and of course, wherever a NOW Membership is included in the package customers can also use the NOW app on any device or smart TV.

Summary: Which multiroom service is the best?

Sky, Virgin Media, and BT all offer additional add-on services to allow customers to watch content in more than one room.

The various apps on offer also extend viewing possibilities to additional devices at no extra cost too, so that's certainly worth looking into, especially where homes have PlayStation or Xbox consoles in bedrooms.

In terms of which multiroom service is best, it's likely that customers will choose a pay TV provider first, and then consider how their multiroom add-on can benefit them.

However, for the sake of comparison, Sky Stream and Virgin Media currently offer the strongest multiroom offers, with both allowing customers to watch in four or five additional rooms, with support for HD and 4K Ultra HD, and easy wire-free installations.

Virgin Media get some bonus points for bundling their whole home WiFi guarantee at no extra cost, which is worth £8 per month, and is suggested by other providers as a way to increase wireless coverage where customers want to watch TV in upstairs rooms.

Sky however, may work out cheaper in the long run. Their pricing means customers pay more upfront for additional boxes but the monthly fee for Whole Home remains at just £12 or £13 per month, regardless of the number of rooms connected.

Virgin Media on the other hand could work out expensive, with customers paying up to £30 extra per month for five additional boxes, although there is no upfront fee.

Overall, we think customers should check out the apps available with Sky, Virgin Media and BT first, and see if using laptops and smart devices could work for them. Otherwise, Sky Stream looks to be the best bet for the cheapest access over the longer-term.