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

Colin_London

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

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...

The primary purpose is to retain existing subscribers. But there will be some people who are not prepared to pay for a Sky Sports package who will be more than happy to get a bit more sport than the dregs left on FTA TV (myself being one of them).

Credit-Crunched

For American Sports Fans and UFC fans, i phoned Sky today to price match BT's offering, which they did.

However, they told me that BT had purchased ESPN and would no longer be available through sky.

Thats my hand forced then!

visidigi

You can buy bt sport and espn on sky though.

I have to say bt have completely lived up to reputation of being completely incompetent with this launch. It's a pr disaster waiting to happen when people start getting excess bandwidth charges etc.

The pricing model is too complex and it will fall on its backside spectacularly, just like itv digital, sesanta, ESPN etc etc.

And the consumer suffers most at the end of the day...

WestonDave

Colin_London wrote: »

The primary purpose is to retain existing subscribers. But there will be some people who are not prepared to pay for a Sky Sports package who will be more than happy to get a bit more sport than the dregs left on FTA TV (myself being one of them).

BT haven't chucked the amount of money they have into BT Vision and BT Sport just to retain existing subscribers - they want to be a serious competitor to the market share dominance of Sky and Virgin, because they know their old primary market of telecomms is dying on its backside in the domestic market.

I strongly suspect this is just the opening shot to sign people up who are easy pickings - later in the summer when they start having to hand over tranches of cash to various sports for the viewing rights and don't have enough income coming in, they'll be offering better deals to try and hook new customers.

As far as I'm concerned on closer examination what they are currently offering isn't worth to me the extra money BT want over say Plusnet.

Former_MSE_Becca

Credit-Crunched wrote: »

For American Sports Fans and UFC fans, i phoned Sky today to price match BT's offering, which they did.

However, they told me that BT had purchased ESPN and would no longer be available through sky.

Thats my hand forced then!

Hi Credit-Crunched, this is true - ESPN will only be available via BT if you also take the BT Sports package. Sky has told me:

All customers in the UK and Republic of Ireland who currently subscribe to ESPN via Sky will be contacted by letter or email over the coming weeks to inform them that their ESPN subscription will be coming to an end on 31 July.


We will be doing a full guide in the coming weeks with all the sport channel options, and will be including info about ESPN, so please stay tuned.

Many thanks,
MSE Becca

silvergirl

Have a look at coolsport, which whilst not being super duper quality or HD, can be watched easily by any broadband user.:D

VisionMan

MSE_Becca wrote: »

Hi Credit-Crunched, this is true - ESPN will only be available via BT if you also take the BT Sports package. Sky has told me:

All customers in the UK and Republic of Ireland who currently subscribe to ESPN via Sky will be contacted by letter or email over the coming weeks to inform them that their ESPN subscription will be coming to an end on 31 July.


We will be doing a full guide in the coming weeks with all the sport channel options, and will be including info about ESPN, so please stay tuned.

Many thanks,
MSE Becca

Hi Becca,

Sorry for saying, but your pricing in the article is wrong, as BT are actually offering the HD element free for the first twelve months. And that includes BB customers who want to watch via a Sky box too.

steven_cardwell

jamesg123 wrote: »

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

It would seem the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is up to at BT.

They launch BT Sport to a big fanfare, however not everyone is in an infinity area, and with that there is total confusion, the website, keeps wanting to flog a You View box, but that is obviously not any use to a non fibre customer wanting BT Sport when it arrives, so i can see quite a few annoyed users, come 1st August that find out they have been sent a box that can't get BT Sport.

I phoned up, and was told that i could get a Vision+ box, so i ordered that at the same time as adding broadband, i am a BT Phone customer already on line rental saver.

Talking of line saver, when i tried a mock online order, even with the info of my phone number, it still wanted me to add line rental to the online order, so the whole online ordering system is flawed.

My go live date is the 28th May, i currently get 3.6meg download with O2, but at the order stage, i couldn't get BT TV without an engineer visit, which is booked for the 29th May.

My home hub has arrived, however there is conflicting information regarding the delivery of the Vision+ box.

I am in a non infinity area, with no date set, for when fibre, if it even will, arrive, so i phoned sales, and asked how i would be able to get BT Sport, and was told i could order a Vision+ box rather than a You View box.

On my account, the home hub that arrived yesterday (Tues 14/5), had tracking information, for Parcelforce and was delivered without any issues.

The Powerline Adaptor Pair, BT Vision Spare Remote Control order was down for yesterday, but never showed up, and the Vision+ box and welcome guide is down for delivery today (Wed 15/5), they all have tracking information of "Dispatched by BT " rather than the "dispatched by Parcel force" that the home hub showed.

After phoning BT yesterday (14/5), which got me thru' to an overseas call centre, i was told, order would be out today (15/5), phoned again this morning, as unlike the home hub, there is no link to courier or anything on the website, to get an overseas call centre again, that says the Vision+ box is out of stock, and then tries to flog me the You View box, which as a non infinity customer wanting BT Sport is no good to me, he even tried to sell me the latter again, after i told him why it was the Vision+ box that was ordered!

Phoned back, and after a few button presses, that clearly got me thru to BT Sales, i got a UK call centre, that told me, as i have a BT Home Install visit, the engineer brings the BT Vision+ box etc with him, and it isn't dispatched on its own via courier.

Just getting a little bit confused now, as i got an email from BT, saying broadband & vision equipment was being delivered yesterday, MY BT account says vision equipment coming today, overseas call centre says out of stock, and UK call centre says engineer will bring box etc with him on install day, so what one is correct?

I have signed up for the BT Customer Forum, and sent a PM to ask, is it normal for engineer, to bring the vision equipment with him, as i don't want the 29th to arrive, and here comes the engineer with no box, who then tells me that is supposed to come separately.

How hard would it be, to have that information properly showing that if you have to order the Home Install, that the engineer brings the box with him, it is just the fact that i have been told 3 different stories, that i now don't know what one is true!

That is the one thing that i hate about these ISP's that sell tv services & then play "god", on O2 i currently use an xbox, and the likes of iPlayer, 4OD, Love Film, Netflix all work fine, even on wireless, yet i couldn't get past the "place order" stage with BT, unless i took a £35 engineer visit, to install a service that is suppose to require a min of 2 meg, and of which the BT estimate for my line says 3, and i currently sync at 4 with O2, with a download of about 3.6.

almillar

silvergirl - coolsport sounds a bit illegal...

tansycat

I've got a BT line and Infinity broadband (which is nowhere near as good as they made it out to be!) and I've absolutely no interest in sport so I don't want this 'free' football. Looks like I'll be subsiding these sports fans and no doubt I'll find that my broadband speed drops when they're all watching their matches. Why can't BT just concentrate on trying to give us a decent service on the phone and broadband we're paying for instead of trying to compete with Sky as a tv provider?