BT TV and broadband deals

Why choose BT TV?

There’s plenty to be said for BT TV these days, including a good number of optional extras as well as the features included in BT’s standard TV bundles.

• YouView box – Each BT TV package comes with BT’s YouView set-top box. With it, you can pause and rewind live TV and record up to 300 hours of TV. It is also 4K ready, allowing you to watch BT Sport Ultimate in UHD (subject to having a 4K-ready TV).
• BT Sport – The jewel in BT TV’s crown, BT Sport features live Champions League football making it an attractive proposition for football fans. We’ll look at this in more detail in the BT Sport section further down the page.
• AMC UK – The AMC UK channel, from the US network behind Mad Men, Breaking Bad and Fear the Walking Dead, is available exclusively on BT TV
• NOW Entertainment – The best of the Sky channels in the form of a NOW Entertainment subscription, including Sky Atlantic and six kids channels, now forms an integral part of BT TV packages.
• Sky Sports – Like most TV providers, BT gives you the chance to add Sky Sports to your TV package.
• Sky Cinema – Sky Cinema is something else you can add to your package, subject to you having a BT fibre service.
• Netflix – A Netflix Basic subscription is included as standard with BT TV packages. If you want to watch on more than one device, you can choose to pay extra and upgrade.
• BT TV Player – BT TV customers can buy or rent movies, including new releases, and TV box sets via the BT TV Player to then watch on your YouView box.
• Virtual Reward cards – BT’s TV and broadband deals often come with virtual reward cards – basically prepaid virtual Mastercards that can be spent on pretty much anything you like online or over the phone.
• Amazon Prime Video – BT was the first subscription TV provider to make Amazon Prime Video available to watch via its set top box. You’ll need a separate subscription in order to access the app.
• BT TV Extra Box – This is BT’s multiroom solution. An extra YouView box enables you to watch your BT TV subscription in a second room.
• BT TV app – You can register to use the BT TV app on up to four devices and watch on two at any one time.

BT TV packages

BT has a range of TV packages. Here, we’ll break down exactly what is included in each package and the extras you can choose to add on to it. All BT TV pages require a fibre connection if you want to watch Netflix and NOW TV. Customers who cannot get a fibre connection should approach BT directly about getting a BT Essential TV package that comes with 80 Freeview channels and BT exclusive channel AMC.

You get seven days of catch-up TV from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, through your TV guide. Customers can also access the BT TV Player to buy and rent films and box sets. All of the following packages come on a 24-month contract.

Entertainment

BT Entertainment is BT’s core package. It comes with Freeview channels and AMC, along with the best Sky channels via the included NOW TV Entertainment Membership, including Sky Atlantic. You also get NOW TV box sets It also comes with a complementary Netflix Basic plan, which gives you access to all Netflix content in standard definition on your YouView box. Customers wanting to watch Netflix on other devices can choose to upgrade to Netflix Standard or Netflix Premium. As a bonus, BT is also offering six months’ free of Britbox, home of the best of British TV over the years, with both classics and new shows on offer.

Big Entertainment

This is a step up from Entertainment. Along with the NOW TV Entertainment channels, Netflix Basic and six months’ Britbox subscription, you also get a NOW TV Cinema subscription, which comes with over 1000 movies on demand. NOW TV Cinema has something for everyone, from family films and cartoons to horror, sci-fi and thrillers.

VIP

BT’s VIP package offers the best of everything – and you’ll have to be prepared to pay for it. Essentially it’s a step up from Big Entertainment, but focussed on sports lovers, with all four BT Sport channels, BoxNation, Eurosport 1 and 2, and of course the full house of 11 Sky Sports channels, with everything from premier league to cricket, rugby and Formula 1.

As a bonus, VIP customers also get full HD with BT Sport and the NOW Boost gives you all the sport in full HD too. And to top it off, you also get Netflix Standard plan, rather than the Basic plan supplied with other packages, which allows you to watch your subscription on two different devices at the same time, rather than being limited to one.

BT Sport

When we talk about BT Sport we’re usually referring to the BT Sport Pack, which is the full line-up of BT Sport channels that you can watch on your TV. They are BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2, BT Sport 3, BT Sport/ESPN, BoxNation and BT Sport Ultimate.

Customers seeking a primarily sport-oriented TV package can choose the BT Sport pack, which comes with all four BT Sport channels and BoxNation, as well as the Freeview channels, AMC and six months of Britbox. For those also wanting Sky Sport, the option is either to choose the Big Sport package (which also comes with Eurosport 1 and 2) or VIP, which literally has all the sport and all the entertainment you could want in one big package.

BT Sport has the exclusive rights to Champions League and Europa League games, so across those channels all 351 live matches will be broadcast from UEFA’s two club competitions each season. BT Sport also shows 52 live Premier League games per season as well as up to 30 FA Cup matches.

It’s not just about football, as BT Sport shows at least 40 Gallagher Premiership Rugby matches each season, plus live coverage of the Heineken Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. There’s live coverage of all 26 stages of the FIA World Rally Championship plus every MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 race, warm-up and practice session.

BT Sport also includes access to BoxNation, which was founded by legendary promoter Frank Warren. Boxing fans can also watch up to 20 live fights on BT Sport 1 every year. Any fights that aren’t shown as part of BT Sport can be accessed via BT Sport Box Office for an extra fee.

BT Sport in 4K UHD

If you have the VIP TV package and a 4K-ready TV then you’ll be able to enjoy live coverage of Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League football, Gallagher Premiership Rugby and MotoGP in up to four times the detail of HD.

Channels

All BT TV packages have the 80 Freeview channels at their core, including BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, CBBC, CBeebies, BBC News, BBC Alba, ITV, ITV2, ITV 3, ITV 4, ITV Be, Channel 4, More 4, E4, Film 4, 4 Music, Channel 5, Five Star, FIVE USA, S4C, Challenge, QVC, Aljazeera, Sky News, Pick, Really, Quest, Yesterday, Dave and a number of +1 and HD versions of those channels. You also get BT exclusive channel AMC.

If you have a fibre connection and sign up for BT Entertainment, Big Entertainment or VIP, you will automatically get a NOW TV Entertainment membership included. This means you can watch 15 channels live or on demand including Sky Atlantic, Sky Max, Sky Showcase, Sky Witness and Sky Comedy. NOW TV Entertainment also comes with Box Sets, giving you access to even more on demand entertainment.

As well as NOW TV Entertainment, BT Big Entertainment and VIP packages also come with NOW TV Cinema, with 11 channels jam-packed with cinematic entertainment, including premieres, horror and sci-fi, family movies, comedies, thrillers and action movies, all of which are available to watch live or on demand.

You can find information on the on demand TV available via BT TV, and other providers, in our on demand TV guide. And there’s more information on BT’s telly channels on our dedicated BT TV channels guide.

What are the alternatives?

If you’re not completely sold on BT or are still wondering how it stacks up against its competitors, here’s a quick rundown of the other runners and riders in the pay TV market.

• Sky TV – Sky’s basic TV package, Sky Entertainment, offers hundreds of channels including Sky Atlantic. It comes with a Sky Q box, which lets you record three channels while watching a fourth and stores up to 500 hours of TV. Netflix comes as standard and things like Sky Sports and Sky Cinema can be added as extras.
• Virgin Media TV – Virgin has a range of TV bundles. All of them come with the Virgin 360 box, which can record six channels while you watch a seventh from your recordings or an app. The top package, Ultimate Volt, comes with loads of channels including Sky Sports, BT Sport and Sky Cinema, as well as an unlimited O2 SIM.
• NOW TV – NOW TV offers five different memberships – Entertainment, Kids, Sky Cinema, Sky Sports and Hayu – that last a month and can be cancelled at any time. Sky Sports is also available as a day or week membership.
• TalkTalk TV – TalkTalk offers a choice of two TV boxes, both of which can be voice-controlled. As well as around 70 Freeview channels, customers can add a range of apps, including NOW, Netflix and BritBox.
• EE TV – EE keeps things simple and just offers Apple TV to its broadband customers as an add-on. It comes with BT Sport Ultimate as standard and the option to add other streaming services such as NOW TV and Netflix.