Virgin Media has announced an amazing free upgrade, just in time for those cosy winter nights in.

The new Virgin Media V6 set-top box is going to be offered free of charge for the millions of its UK customers.

It should cost £20, but current customers who have a Virgin contract can request the premium set-top box which lets you record up to six shows while watching a seventh one, reports the Mirror .

Current customers will be contacted in the next few weeks with details of how they can get the new box.

Virgin expects that most people will be able to set the next box up themselves without needing an engineer to come out.

It's a great day to be a Virgin Media customer today
It's a great day to be a Virgin Media customer today

Virgin Media has called the plan one of the "largest customer upgrade programmes" ever carried out in the UK.

But how does it compare to Sky? Virgin Media rival Sky has its own equivalent of the box, the Sky Q, which customers have to pay at least £20 for.

Half the size of the previous TiVo box, the V6 also supports 4K Ultra-High Definition (UHD) TV, Netflix, YouTube and iPlayer, meaning that you'll be getting a serious upgrade to your TV watching.

And there's nothing more we want to do in January than sit on our sofa.

David Bouchier, Chief Digital Entertainment Officer at Virgin Media said: “We believe that our finest kit shouldn’t just be for new customers.

"So we’re kicking off one of the largest existing customer upgrade programmes ever seen in the UK, accelerating the rollout of our best ever set-top box."

“Our customers tell us how much they love using the V6 box and watch more TV when they have one.

"As a central entertainment hub, fired by our superior ultrafast broadband, the V6 is built for apps and the best on-demand TV experience - whether its iPlayer, Netflix or thousands of Box Sets.

“Rightfully, our customers expect the best, and with top-notch TV to lightning-fast broadband, that's exactly what they are getting.”