MSE News: BT Sport: is its 'free' offer any good?

Former_MSE_Helen

"Football fans who want access to all live Premier League games should avoid locking into a long-term broadband deal..."

Read the full story:

BT Sport: is its 'free' offer any good?



Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, read our New to Forum? Intro Guide.

jamesg123

Can someone clarify as BT have left me confused?

After a long conversation with BT it appears on the surface that BT Sports is free for all BT Broadband customers HOWEVER i cant watch it through my television. I will explain

I cant get infinity in my area. So i am limited to BT Broadband
because of this we can only view on our laptop or iphone but not our tv.
I can opt for BT Vision box which i can view it through but only after launch (date to be confirmed.)
If i opt for a youview box at sign up in my opinion better than a bt vision box (both free on sign up with bt) i cannot watch bt sports as it will only be available on bt vision boxes!!

Can anyone clarify this?? Please as this does not make sense. I have 7mps broadband and want a youview box from bt and free sports. ???
Many Thanks and look forward to clarification as it will help others who cannot get fibre in their area

WestonDave

My reading of this (which may be wrong) is that its a bit misleading. BT Sport appears to be free if you have BT broadband or BT Infinity, but that only covers watching it on your laptop (albeit you might be able to hook your laptop up to your TV if both have HDMI ports). If you want to watch BT Sport through a TV then you need a TV package which costs a minimum of £5 per month plus £49 activation fee, and purely seems to get you the right to pay for on demand services over and above Freeview.

As I'm in contract until July I think I'll wait and see what story they are telling then!

VisionMan

The article (on prices) is wrong. And poorly researched too.

Colin_London

jamesg123 wrote: »

Can someone clarify as BT have left me confused?

I cant get infinity in my area. So i am limited to BT Broadband
because of this we can only view on our laptop or iphone but not our tv.
I can opt for BT Vision box which i can view it through but only after launch (date to be confirmed.)

Correct - A BT Vision+ Box (Black Box) enables you to watch the Standard Definition BT Sports channels on your TV via your TV aerial and a smart card that plugs into the box (Cost £10 to BT Broadband customers only). It doesn't use your broadband connection, hence no need for Infinity. But reception isn't universal - you'll only pick up the channels if you can pick up ITV4 at the moment.

If you have any form of Sky Satellite service, including Freesat from Sky, as a BT Broadband customer you can get the channels for free that way instead. The HD option is available via Satellite.

jamesg123 wrote: »

If i opt for a youview box at sign up in my opinion better than a bt vision box (both free on sign up with bt) i cannot watch bt sports as it will only be available on bt vision boxes!!

Youview boxes can only receive the channels via their internet connections as they do not have a card slot to decrypt the channels off-air. BT are only allowing Infinity customers (and not ADSL/ADSL2+ customers) to receive the channels via the internet (actually a special high quality multicast service called 'TV Connect').

jamesg123 wrote: »

Can anyone clarify this?? Please as this does not make sense. I have 7mps broadband and want a youview box from bt and free sports. ???

BT are only launching the TV screen service over the internet to Infinity customers because they have only enabled the TV Connect service at Infinity exchanges. The TV service is very different to the PC/App lower quality service - it is broadcast quality picture and requires a high bandwidth connection. 7Mbps won't cut it at present.

Colin_London

WestonDave wrote: »

My reading of this (which may be wrong) is that its a bit misleading. BT Sport appears to be free if you have BT broadband or BT Infinity, but that only covers watching it on your laptop (albeit you might be able to hook your laptop up to your TV if both have HDMI ports). If you want to watch BT Sport through a TV then you need a TV package which costs a minimum of £5 per month plus £49 activation fee, and purely seems to get you the right to pay for on demand services over and above Freeview.

As I'm in contract until July I think I'll wait and see what story they are telling then!

The £5 per month plus £49 activation fee is basically the cost for the hardware (if you buy your own Youview box from a shop you don't have to pay them, but instead have to pay £250 for your box!).

These prices have remained unchanged and have nothing to do with BT Sport, so it is true to say that the BT Sport services are no extra charge (although the £49 + £5 per month for 12 months is prerequisite if getting your box through BT).

smjxm09

The £5 per month plus £49 activation fee is basically the cost for the hardware (if you buy your own Youview box from a shop you don't have to pay them, but instead have to pay £250 for your box!).

Youview comes with different software depending who provided the box. Only a Vision box provided by BT will get the BT sports service.

Colin_London

smjxm09 wrote: »

Youview comes with different software depending who provided the box. Only a Vision box provided by BT will get the BT sports service.

Your info is out of date. BT announced Monday that they will provide BT Sport to their infinity customers who bought their own box in a shop.

The software on retail boxes connected to a BT line, and BT purchased boxes is identical.

Jintray

Here's how 'free' it is to me. I am a BT broadband customer, on the basic package. So I would need to get BT Vision (54 connection charge + 5 per month), or watch it on the internet with downloading charges (my limit 10 gb per month; I currently use about 5gb of that, so I could watch 2.5 games in a month). And I would need to move to a more expensive (HD ?) package at an extra 3 per month. And ESPN is only available online.

So hardly free. If the Advertising Standards Authority were worth a candle I would tell them about this. And I would tell BT, but they have no online 'contact' facility.

Colin_London

Jintray wrote: »

Here's how 'free' it is to me. I am a BT broadband customer, on the basic package. So I would need to get BT Vision (54 connection charge + 5 per month), or watch it on the internet with downloading charges (my limit 10 gb per month; I currently use about 5gb of that, so I could watch 2.5 games in a month). And I would need to move to a more expensive (HD ?) package at an extra 3 per month. And ESPN is only available online.

So hardly free. If the Advertising Standards Authority were worth a candle I would tell them about this. And I would tell BT, but they have no online 'contact' facility.

Are you sure the BT Sport viewing online is coming out of your allowance? Even if it is, you are still able to view for free even for 2 games a month.

[Deleted User]

BT are putting too many restrictions on this offer. It's certainly 'free' to those who already have a You View or Sky Box and a BT broadband connection, but I can't see many being tempted to actually switch providers by this deal. I certainly wouldn't be subscribing in order to watch online...