There’s so much great TV out there for our kids to watch but with countless channels and options available, how can we make sure they don’t land on something inappropriate? Rather than stuffing the remote down the back of the sofa or lurking in the doorway when they switch on the telly, there’s a far simpler solution – setting up parental controls.

This way, you can be sure they won’t stray into dodgy territory when you’re busy cooking the tea. The magic key? Your Virgin Media PIN.

Getting started

When you first set up your box, your default pin will be set as 1234. This already gives you a level of control as you’ll need to enter it to watch the following:

• Programmes rated 12 before 8pm
• Programmes rated 15 before 9pm
• Programmes rated 18 before 10pm
• Channels and Apps you’ve chosen to lock (see below)
• Any adult channels
• Recordings from after the watershed, if viewed before 9pm

Personalising your PIN

It’s a good idea to change your PIN to something memorable (and less obvious – you know how canny those kids can be!) right away. Here’s how to do this on if you watch on a TiVo^® box or a V6 box, powered by TiVo^®:

1. Press Home on the remote
2. Select Help & Settings
3. Select Parental Controls
4. Enter your current PIN
5. Select Change PIN
6. Follow the on-screen instructions

Here’s how to do it if you’re a TV 360 or Stream customer:

1. Select Home
2. Select Settings (the “gear” symbol)
3. Select Parental Controls
4. Selecte Change PIN
5. Enter PIN
6. Follow the on-screen instructions

And it’s easy to reset your PIN if you forget it, or if your little munchkins crack the code. Here’s how if you’re using a TiVo^® box or a V6 box, powered by TiVo^®:

1. Press Home on the remote
2. Select Help & Settings
3. Select Help
4. Select TV Care
5. Select Reset My PIN

And here’s how if you’re a TV 360 or Stream customer:

1. Select Home
2. Select Settings (the “gear” symbol)
3. Select Parental Controls
4. Go to Forgot your PIN?
5. Follow the on-screen instructions

Customising your controls

Everyone has their own view on what content they’d rather their children didn’t watch and, with your Virgin Media PIN, you can set the parental controls to suit you.

How to change controls for buying content (TiVo^® box or V6 box, powered by TiVo^®):

1. Press Home on the remote
2. Select Help & Settings
3. Select Purchase Controls
4. Enter your PIN
5. Choose Allow purchases with a PIN or Require a PIN to purchase

How to change controls for buying content (TV 360 and Stream):

1. Select Home
2. Select Settings (the “gear” symbol)
3. Select Parental Controls
4. Select Set PIN for Payments
5. Enter your PIN to change the setting

How to hide adult channels (TiVo^® box or V6 box, powered by TiVo^®, only)

1. Press Home on the remote
2. Select Help & Settings
3. Select Parental Controls
4. Enter your PIN
5. Select Hide Adult Channels
6. Select Hide Adult Channels again

Just so you know, to view an adult channel, you’ll need to unhide the Adult Channels first. Adult channels require a PIN at any time of day.

How to lock or unlock channels (TiVo^® box or V6 box, powered by TiVo^®):

1. Press Home on the remote
2. Select Help & Settings
3. Select Parental Controls
4. Enter your PIN
5. Select Lock channels
6. Highlight the channel
7. Press OK on the remote
8. Go to Use these settings
9. Press OK

How to lock or unlock channels (TV 360 and Stream):

1. Select Home
2. Select Settings (the “gear” symbol)
3. Select Parental Controls
4. Select Lock Channels
5. Enter PIN if required
6. Follow the on-screen instructions to select channels you wish to lock or unlock

Managing your apps

When you watch Virgin TV with a Virgin TV 360, a TiVo^® box, a V6 box powered by TiVo^® or via Stream from Virgin Media, you’ll have access to Apps and Games. If you lock any of these, that means you’ll have to enter your Virgin Media PIN to access them. You can lock the apps you want by following some simple steps.

How to lock or unlock apps (TiVo^® box or V6 box, powered by TiVo^®):

1. Press Home on the remote
2. Select Help & Settings
3. Select Parental Controls
4. Enter your PIN
5. Select Lock Apps & Games
6. Choose an App or Game and select Blocked, Locked or Unlocked

How to lock or unlock apps (TV 360 and Stream):

1. Select Home
2. Select Settings (the “gear” symbol)
3. Select Parental Controls
4. Select Lock Apps
5. Enter PIN
6. Follow the on-screen instructions to choose apps you wish to lock or unlock

If you can’t lock an App or you’d like a more custom-built filter system, it’s easy to change the settings on the Apps themselves. Apps also come with their own parental control options, so you can click through and decide what and what not to block. For most, you’ll need to sign into your App account and create a PIN. 

Turning off watershed recordings PIN

When the kids are on a school trip or off to stay with Granny and you don’t need to worry about them finding inappropriate recordings during the day, you can switch off the PIN requirement for this (except for Stream).

Switch off watershed recordings PIN (TiVo^® or V6 box, powered by TiVo^®):

1. Press Home on the remote
2. Select Help & Settings
3. Select Parental Controls
4. Enter your PIN
5. Select Request a PIN to watch recordings
6. Tick Do Not Request a PIN

Switch off watershed recordings PIN (TV 360):

1. Select Home
2. Select Settings (the “gear” symbol)
3. Select Parental Controls
4. Select Watershed recordings PIN
5. Enter your PIN to turn off

You will still need to enter a PIN for recordings made from some non-watershed channels.