Virgin has announced that it will take on Sky with a new set top box for customers not living in a cable area.

The new box aims to help the newly formed company expand availability of its quadplay of broadband, phone, mobile and TV services beyond its cable franchise network.

The service uses the digital terrestrial television platform (DTT) and a new set-top box to offer consumers over 40 free-to-air TV channels and over 25 digital radio stations via an eight-day, Virgin branded, on-screen TV guide.

The set-top box has a matt black design and measures just 19cms by 9cms - roughly the same size as a video tape.

The box also comes with a remote and remote control extender, which means you can hide the box out of sight, whilst continuing to use the remote.

The box will be free to any Virgin Media non-cable customer taking the up to 8Mb broadband and Talk Anytime phone bundle.