How much does TV aerial installation cost in the UK?
A TV aerial installation costs £150 on average in the UK. Most jobs fall between £50 and £450 per job. Job type: Repair £50 to £125, New aerial or satellite dish £100 to £250, New aerial with an amplifier or extra TV points £280 to £450. Prices reviewed September 2026.
Fitting or repairing a TV aerial usually costs between £50 and £450 per job in the UK, with most people paying around £150 for a standard aerial and one TV point. A simple repair is cheaper, a satellite dish usually costs about the same as an aerial, and an amplifier or extra TV points cost more.
TV aerial installation cost calculator
Use the calculator to price your TV aerial installation in 2026. Adjust the options and area for a UK cost range. Nothing is sent anywhere.
TV aerial installation cost breakdown
The cheapest option is Repair, retune or realign an existing aerial at £50 to £125, and the dearest is New aerial with an amplifier or extra TV points at £280 to £450. Typical is £150 per job.
| Job type | Typical UK cost |
|---|---|
| Repair, retune or realign an existing aerial | £50 to £125 |
| New aerial or satellite dish, one TV point | £100 to £250 |
| New aerial with an amplifier or extra TV points | £280 to £450 |
What's included in the price?
Typical TV aerial installation prices include:
- A qualified aerial and satellite engineer for the visit
- The aerial or dish plus its mounting bracket or pole
- A new coaxial cable run to one TV point
- Aligning the aerial to the strongest transmitter and testing the signal
- Clipping and tidying the cable and taking the old aerial away
What changes the price?
The things that move TV aerial installation prices most:
Whether it is a repair, a new aerial, or a satellite dish
Where it goes, as a loft mount is cheaper than a roof or chimney one
Signal strength in your area and whether an amplifier is needed
How many TV points you want feeding from the one aerial
Whether the job needs a ladder only or a scaffold tower for safe roof access
Your region and the engineer's call-out charge
These are why two quotes for the same job can differ, and the only way to know your price is to get prices from local firms.
How the price is built up
Most of the bill is labour and the call-out charge, so a quick loft aerial or a repair is cheap. A roof or chimney mount adds working at height and sometimes a scaffold tower, a weak-signal area adds an amplifier, and every extra TV point adds cable and a splitter, which is what pushes a job toward the top of the range. The aerial or dish and its bracket is usually £20 to £70, and a masthead amplifier or a high-gain aerial adds more. The bulk of the price is the engineer's time and call-out, plus the coaxial cable and fixings.
Ways to keep the cost down
- Book a repair or realignment first, as a poor picture is often just a knocked aerial rather than a failed one
- Fit the aerial in the loft where signal allows; it avoids working on the roof and costs less
- Get any extra TV points added in the same visit instead of calling the engineer back
- Check whether Freeview through an aerial covers the channels you watch before paying for a satellite dish
Does where you live change the cost?
In London, a TV aerial installation typically costs around £180 per job, about 20% above the UK average of £150. In the North, Scotland and Wales the guide figure is nearer £150.
| Region | From | Typical | Up to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midlands / East (UK average) | £50 | £150 | £450 |
| London | £60 | £180 | £540 |
| South East / South West | £55 | £160 | £470 |
| North / Scotland / Wales | £50 | £150 | £440 |
Guide prices per job, scaled with the same regional multipliers as the calculator. Not quotes.
TV aerial installation cost in major UK cities
| City | From | Typical | Up to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belfast | £50 | £140 | £430 |
| Birmingham | £50 | £150 | £450 |
| Bristol | £55 | £160 | £470 |
| Cardiff | £50 | £150 | £440 |
| Edinburgh | £50 | £150 | £440 |
| Glasgow | £50 | £150 | £440 |
| Leeds | £50 | £150 | £440 |
| Liverpool | £50 | £150 | £440 |
| London | £60 | £180 | £540 |
| Manchester | £50 | £150 | £440 |
| Newcastle | £50 | £150 | £440 |
| Sheffield | £50 | £150 | £440 |
City guide estimates, scaled by local labour costs. Indicative averages for TV aerial installation, not quotes.
Trades in London and the South East charge the most, often £30 to £60 more per job; the North, Wales and Scotland tend to be cheaper. Any job that needs a scaffold tower for roof access costs more wherever you are.
Compare this with a real quote
The figures above are guide prices. Two or three quotes for your TV aerial installation tell you what it costs where you live.
Common questions
How much does TV aerial installation cost in 2026?
About £50 to £450 per job, with most people paying around £150 for a standard aerial fitted with one TV point. A simple repair or realignment is cheaper, while an amplifier or extra TV points cost more.
What makes TV aerial installation more expensive?
A roof or chimney mount instead of the loft, a weak-signal area that needs a high-gain aerial and a masthead amplifier, extra TV points, and any job that needs a scaffold tower for safe access all push the price up.
Is a TV aerial or a satellite dish cheaper?
Neither is reliably cheaper. Installers' published prices in September 2026 put a standard Freeview aerial with one TV point at about £100 to £240 fitted, and a Freesat dish at about £85 to £190, so a dish often costs about the same as an aerial or less. The choice usually comes down to the channels you want and how strong the terrestrial signal is where you live.
Can I install a TV aerial myself?
You can fit a loft aerial yourself fairly safely and it often works fine. A roof or chimney aerial means working at height, which is dangerous without the right access and training, so most people pay an engineer for that. An engineer will also align it properly for the strongest signal.
How long does it take to fit a TV aerial?
About an hour for a repair or a loft aerial, and 2 to 4 hours for a roof-mounted aerial or a satellite dish. Adding extra TV points takes longer.
How long does a TV aerial last?
Usually 10 to 20 years outdoors, and plenty of people are still watching through one after 30. Weather is what ends them: rain, wind, frost and sunlight corrode the elements and work the fixings loose, so an exposed rooftop aerial near the coast has a much shorter life than the same aerial in a sheltered spot. A loft-mounted aerial is out of the weather altogether and lasts longest, at the cost of some signal. The useful thing to know before paying for a new one is that a signal problem often is not the aerial. Coaxial cable degrades, connectors corrode where water has tracked into them, and a masthead or distribution amplifier can fail on its own, and any of those gives you the same fuzzy picture or missing channels. At £50 to £450 for the job it is worth having whoever attends check the cable and the connections first, because replacing a working aerial fixes nothing.
How much does an extra TV point cost?
Adding an extra TV point off an existing aerial is usually £50 to £100 per point, depending on the cable run and whether a signal splitter or amplifier is needed to keep the picture strong.
Do I need planning permission for a TV aerial?
Normally not, in England. The Planning Portal says normal domestic TV and radio aerials do not need planning permission, as long as they meet certain requirements, and that building regulations do not generally apply, although the installation should be safe and the fixing point stable. A listed building is different: you need listed building consent for any antenna that affects the character or appearance of the building or its setting, so check with the council before an aerial goes on the outside.
Do I need planning permission for a satellite dish?
Not usually, in England. Class H of Part 1 of Schedule 2 to the General Permitted Development Order 2015 allows up to two antennas on a house without an application, and a single dish can be up to 100 centimetres across. On a chimney it must be 60 centimetres or less and not stick up above the stack. Without a chimney a roof dish cannot rise above the roof; with one, it cannot rise more than 60 centimetres above the ridge or above the chimney. In a conservation area or other designated area it cannot go on a wall, chimney or roof slope facing, and visible from, a road.
Official guidance and sources
The rules and schemes referenced on this page come from these official UK sources. The price figures are Costwise's own; see how we price.
- Satellite, TV and radio antenna: planning permission Planning Portal · Normal domestic TV and radio aerials do not need planning permission in England, and a listed building needs consent for any antenna that affects its character.
- General Permitted Development Order 2015, Schedule 2, Part 1, Class H legislation.gov.uk · The size, number and position limits for a satellite dish on a house, and the tighter rules on designated land.
- Satellite dishes, aerials and antennas Planning Portal · Planning Portal's summary of when a dish or antenna needs planning permission.
- Introduction to working at height safely HSE · HSE's guidance for trades: avoid work at height where possible, use a ladder only for light work of short duration, and never rest one against a weak surface such as a plastic gutter.
Cite this data
These figures are free to use in articles, reports and research under a CC BY 4.0 licence. All we ask is a credit to Costwise, and online a link. Where your style allows, please make "Costwise" the linked word so readers can check the figure for their own region.
Costwise (2026): A TV aerial installation typically costs £150 per job in the UK, ranging from £50 to £450 per job. Reviewed September 2026. costwiseuk.co.ukSource: Costwise (costwiseuk.co.uk)Costwise (2026). TV aerial installation cost. Costwise UK cost data, version 2026-10-12. https://costwiseuk.co.uk/tv-aerial-installation-cost/2026-10-12 (158 jobs)Dataset DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21159943 · also on Kaggle, Hugging Face and Figshare. Method: how we price. Downloadable CSV.
These are independent guide prices based on typical UK jobs in 2026. Your actual cost depends on your property, spec, access and where you live. Always get at least three written quotes before committing.