Virgin Media has signed a five year deal with Sky that means the cable TV operator will get all of the remaining HD channels it has previously lacked.

Sky F1 HD, Sky Sports 3 HD, Sky Sports 4 HD, Sky Sports News HD and Sky News HD will join the service this summer. The other Sky Sports channels are already available in high definition as well as standard. Pocket-lint has also been told that they will come at no extra cost to the existing Sky Premium HD bundle (currently £7 a month)

The deal means that Virgin Media is the only service that will offer all sports broadcasting without customers requiring separate contracts. At present, Sky customers need to sign separate deals with BT to receive the BT Sports channels, but Virgin Media includes access as part of its top level TV packages. BT itself does not offer some of the Sky Sports channels.

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In addition to the new channel offering, Virgin Media will launch new dedicated applications this summer that will give its customers access to the Sky Sports and Sky Movies channels when on the move.

The operator's existing Virgin TV Anywhere apps for iOS and Android will have their accessible channel line-up expanded to include Sky 1, Sky 2, Sky Living, Sky LivingIT and Sky Arts 1 as part of the agreement.

"We are excited our customers will be able to watch even more great TV from Sky on more devices as a result of the most extensive agreement ever signed between Virgin Media and Sky," said Tom Mockridge, CEO of Virgin Media.

"This promises to be a fantastic summer of entertainment and our customers, whether at home or on the go, will get to enjoy Sky’s range of channels for years to come as a result of our investment."