Virgin Media has introduced new measures to help keep customers connected and entertained during lockdown.

Virgin have announced it is making a total of 14 TV channels and on-demand programming available to customers at no extra cost.

The operator is also offering free mobile data to families to ensure children can remain connected while all schools remain closed.

Jeff Dodds, Chief Operating Officer at Virgin Media, said: “As we have done since the start of this pandemic, we want to support our customers during the difficult months that lie ahead.

“We know how important it is for people to have the connectivity to get online, as well as to stay entertained while spending more time at home.

“From offering free mobile data to support remote learning to providing a great line-up of pay TV channels at no extra cost, we’re pleased to be playing our part in helping our customers during this challenging time.”

Which TV channels will be free?

Virgin Media will be making a number of factual pay TV channels free until February 9, eligible customers will not have to do anything to claim the free channels and the will be no extra charges on their contract.

The full list:

  • Animal Planet HD
  •  Animal Planet +1
  • Crime+Investigation HD
  • Crime+Investigation +1
  • Discovery History
  • Discovery History +1
  • Discovery Science
  • Discovery Science + 1
  • Discovery Turbo
  • Eurosport 1 HD
  • Eurosport 2 HD
  • Sky History HD
  • Sky History +1
  • Sky History 2 HD

Customers with the Documentaries Personal Pick or Mix bundle can also tune into two additional channels: Sky Documentaries, which provides a range of documentaries and Sky Nature, which is Nature is dedicated to exploring the beauty and wonder of the natural world.

To help Virgin TV’s youngest viewers stay entertained, Virgin Media has extended free access to the Hopster app. Hopster is aimed at pre-schoolers and  aims to help them learn through family favourites such as Pingu and Sesame Street.

Customers can also kick-start their 2021 fitness regime with Virgin Media’s Get Moving channel, fronted by two time British Olympic gold medallist, Daley Thompson, as well as a number of elite personal trainers.

Connectivity

As part of the Department for Education’s Get help with technology programme, Virgin Mobile is offering an additional 20GB of mobile data per month to ensure families that need it have the connectivity so their children can take part in online lessons and remote learning.

The firm has also zero-rated online learning resource website Oak National Academy, meaning access to the platform will not use up any of the customer’s data allowance.

In addition, Virgin Mobile is offering vulnerable customers who are on Pay As You Go contracts 500 minutes, 500 text messages and 1GB of extra data at no extra cost every month.

Meanwhile, vulnerable customers on Pay Monthly contracts can receive unlimited minutes and 10GB of additional data every month with both offers are available until the end of March.