Cable, Sky or Freeview?

No idea what the cable penatration is in Cumbria, but Id be amazed if its outside the biggest towns, So I will consider it no further as it is irrelevant to most of Cumbria and the Scottish Borders.

In that case satellite wins every time for me. Bigger choice of tv channels, including niche areas of interest. More radio services, covering all genres from heavy rock to religious and most things inbetween..

You dont have to pay a monthy bill to Sky these days either. Fresatfromsky.com allows a one off payment for installation and no subscription required.

If you know what you are doing and handy at DIY then you can self install satellite kit fairly easily - and you dont have to be bound by Sky digiboxes either.

Then advantage of FreeView is that adaptors are now cheap, although coverage in our rural area (Borders & Cumbria) is patchy in the extreme - and will remain so until late 2008. Channel line up is improving, but cannot and never will match the offering from satellite due to lack of available transmission bandwidth.