BT TV is a subscription

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded medi ...

service offered by BT; a division of United Kingdom telecommunications company BT Group, and was originally launched as BT Vision in December 2006. As of the end of June 2019, BT TV had 1.9 million customers. BT TV uses the YouView platform, so offers

Freeview Freeview may refer to: *Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia *Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), a ...

channels via DTT along with YouView's additional on-demand content, as well as 30 extra entertainment channels (18 of which are available in HD), 9 extra children's channels, 11 movie channels ( Sky Cinema), 5 live sports channels ( BT Sport &

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

) and other on-demand services delivered through IPTV. BT Sport channels are available in SD and HD through IPTV signals. BT Sport,

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

and AMC from BT are available in non-fibre areas over IPTV using copper multicast where available. As BT TV transmits channels and content through IPTV, BT requires customers to sign up to the BT Broadband internet and phone service to use BT TV, with connection via BT's official router,

BT Home Hub The BT Smart Hub (formerly BT Home Hub) is a family of wireless residential gateway router modems distributed by BT for use with their own products and services and those of wholesale resellers (i.e. LLUs) but not with other Internet servic ...

. BT started rebranding its TV services – BT Vision and its YouView service as BT TV between May and August 2013. On 11 April 2014, BT announced that the original Vision service would be closed down as of 30 June, with all customers getting a free upgrade to its modern YouView service. The Vision service was, after August 2013, solely used to broadcast

, as well as BT Sport for non-Infinity customers. Sky Sports 1 & 2 were made available to YouView customers on Tuesday 16 December 2014 following an interim ruling from the Appeal Court backing Ofcom's ruling that YouView is to be included in the "Wholesale Must Offer" of the channels.

History

Background

When

British Telecom BT Group plc (trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, b ...

(BT) was privatised in 1984, it was barred from providing television broadcasts over its telecommunication network, which meant that it was not possible for BT to provide a cable television service. The ban was designed to protect the new smaller telecommunications companies and the small cable television networks in the United Kingdom as it was felt that BT had an unfair advantage because its pre-privatisation monopoly meant that its equipment was already installed in virtually every home and business in the country. In January 2001, the ban was lifted. Despite the ban on BT offering cable services, it did offer to customers in the 1990s analogue satellite receivers compatible with the Astra satellite system (with built-in VideoCrypt decoders for receiving the Sky Multichannels package); these boxes were rebadged versions of receivers built by other companies, such as the BT SVS200 being a Cambridge ARD200.

Launch

BT Vision was launched on 5 December 2006, competing with Sky,

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint ventu ...

(then known as NTL:Telewest) and

TalkTalk Plus TV TalkTalk TV is a UK-based consumer television and video on demand service, operated by the TalkTalk Group that originally launched in 2000. In September 2012, the current TalkTalk TV was launched in partnership with YouView. Its television an ...

(then known as Tiscali TV). Initial industry reaction was positive although there was some criticism that set up costs were expensive and it was noted that BT Group were entering a competitive market. In May 2007, BT Group launched a national advertising campaign for BT Vision. BT Vision was the second

television platform in the UK, after Homechoice TV. The aim was to attract "hundreds of thousands" of customers by the end of 2007 and 2–3 million in the medium-term. However, adoption was slow and by February 2008 BT Vision had just 150,000 customers.

Premium sport deal

BT acquired the rights to carry 242 same-day (but not live)

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

football matches per season in a three-year deal covering the 2007–08, 2008–09 and 2009–10 seasons in a joint bid with

BSkyB Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

on 25 May 2006, prior to BT Vision's launch. BT Vision also have the right to offer on demand coverage of 125 matches each season from the Football League and League Cup. This service ceased prior to the start of the 2010–11 season. Between August 2007 and June 2009,

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland broadcasting throughout select Eurasian. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to international audiences. The company previ ...

was available through BT Vision, via DTT and a smart card, offering live Premiership and Scottish Premier League games, as well as other sporting events such as US PGA Tour Golf and Magners League Rugby. BT Vision made a deal with American sports TV company ESPN for carriage of its new channel which replaced Setanta on DTT. The company announced the pricing of their

packages in July 2010, following the outcome of

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

's review into pay-TV pricing in March, which directed Sky to reduce the wholesale price it charges for the Sky Sports channels. The price charged to customers signing up for broadband, calls and TV with BT for a two-year contract results in the organisation making a "significant loss on the service", allowing them to undercut the price charged by Sky to its own customers.

Microsoft deal

On 7 January 2008, BT reached a deal with

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...

where the latter's

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

console would have provided BT Vision's on demand content. The service was due to launch in mid-2008 but never materialised.

Sky Sports deal

On 28 June 2010, BT and Sky signed an agreement where

1 and 2 will be available for BT Vision customers. This came a year after BT stopped offering Setanta Sports 1 & 2 on Vision after Setanta lost the rights to broadcast

football.

UKTV deal

On 22 March 2012, it was announced that BT would offer

UKTV UKTV Media Limited, simply known as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 throug ...

original content on-demand from later in the day. Featured programmes include '' James Martin's Mediterranean'' (

Good Food Good Food was a cookery channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom and Ireland, latterly as part of the Discovery, Inc. network of channels. The channel originally launched on 5 November 2001 and relaunched in its final format on 22 June 2009. ...

), ''Choccywoccydoodah'' (Good Food), '' Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'' (

Home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. ...

), ''Celebrity Fantasy Homes'' (Home), ''

Tool Academy Tool Academy is a reality TV franchise. It may refer to: * ''Tool Academy'' (U.S. TV series) * ''Tool Academy'' (UK TV series) {{set index Reality television series franchises ...

'' ( Really), '' Bridezillas'' (Really), ''Amazing Planet'' ( Eden) and ''Life on Fire'' (Eden). As part of the deal, UKTV started streaming linear channels to BT Vision set top boxes later in 2012. The first three were

Watch A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached ...

GOLD Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

and Alibi; further channels Good Food, Eden and Home were to launch at a later date.

Dave Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

, Really and Yesterday will likely not launch on the service as they are already available on

, which is available through the BT set-top boxes.

Fox deal

On 11 April 2012, BT and Fox International Channels announced that from late 2012, BT Vision customers would be able to watch FX (which became Fox) as a linear channel. BT Vision customers were also able to watch many of the top shows, up to seven days after transmission on-demand and watch library programmes on-demand. On 1 March 2016, Fox was removed from the BT TV line-up.

National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo Wild deal

On 12 June 2012, BT announced that National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo Wild would be coming to BT Vision as linear channels in late 2012. The deal also included a seven-day on demand catch up of programmes.

Premier League football rights

On 13 June 2012, it was announced that BT had acquired a share of the rights to

football television coverage for the 2013–14 to 2015–16 seasons. As part of the deal, BT acquired the live rights to 38 games, including 18 of the 38 "first pick" games, for a total of £738 million. BT simultaneously announced plans to launch a Sports Channel on all platforms, including BT Vision.

Premiership Rugby rights

On 12 September 2012, BT agreed a £152 million four-year exclusive rights deal for the broadcast of Premiership Rugby from the 2013–14 season.

British Eurosport deal

On 8 November 2012, BT signed a contract with British Eurosport to add British Eurosport 1 and 2 to its line-up of linear TV channels. The deal included sporting content to watch on demand. On-demand content was later removed but re-added in mid 2018 following the signing of a new deal with Eurosport's current owners Discovery.

Sky Cinema deal

On 14 October 2013, BT signed a deal with Sky for the carriage of their

Sky Movies Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema ...

(now known as Sky Cinema) channels and on-demand content. The channels were available to customers from 26 October.

Netflix Deal

On 10 November 2014 BT and YouView announced that the Netflix player had been made available on BT & retail Humax YouView boxes. In addition BT announced a tie in deal with Netflix, where you can subscribe to Netflix and pay through your BT TV bill.

AMC Deal

On 4 August 2015 BT and

AMC Networks International AMC Networks International is the division of AMC Networks that operates outside the United States. AMC Networks commissions and distributes TV channels, content and video services. The division's operating companies and business units currently ...

announced that they would be launching the AMC channel for the first time in the UK exclusively for BT customers. The channel launched on 28 August 2015 and is available to order free of charge on all BT TV packages and to Sky TV customers who also subscribe to the BT Sports Pack.

Amazon deal

On 21 June 2018 BT announced that Amazon Prime Video will be available through BT TV.

Now TV deal

On 3 April 2020 it was announced Now TV will be available through BT TV.

Discovery deal

On 28 November 2022,

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discove ...

is launched on a BT TV Player as well.

Available channels

The following is a list of live TV channels on the BT TV platforms with their EPG numbers, correct as of 15 December 2022. All channels are offered to the viewer via

with the relevant subscription from BT TV: ;BT Entertainment Pack *332: AMC from BT ;BT Entertainment Pack - HD & 4K bolt-on *381: AMC from BT HD ;NOW Entertainment Pass *313: Sky News *314:

NBC News Now NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

*320:

*340: Sky Showcase *341: Sky Witness *342: Sky Atlantic *343: Alibi *344:

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

*345: Comedy Central *346: Sky Max *347: Sky Comedy *348: Sky Sci-Fi *349: Sky Crime *350: Sky Arts *351:

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

*352: Sky Documentaries *353:

Sky History History (known as Sky History in the UK and Ireland) is a European documentary television channel which broadcasts programs related to reality programming, historical events and persons. It is a joint venture between A&E Networks UK and Sky ...

*354: Sky Nature *466:

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, ...

*467: Boomerang *468:

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

*469: Nicktoons *470: Nick Jr. *471: Cartoonito ;Asian Mix *390:

SET Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...

*391: Sony Max *392: Utsav Plus HD *393: Utsav Gold HD *394: Zee TV HD *395: Zee Cinema HD *396: Colors TV *397: Colors Cineplex ;NOW Entertainment Pass - HD & 4K bolt-on *325: Discovery HD *355: Sky Showcase HD *356: Sky Witness HD *357: Sky Atlantic HD *358: Alibi HD *359: Gold HD *360: Comedy Central HD *361: Sky Max HD *362: Sky Comedy HD *363: Sky Sci-Fi HD *364: Sky Crime HD *365:

Sky Arts HD Sky Arts (originally launched as Artsworld) is a British free-to-air television channel offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, movies, documentaries and music (such as opera perfor ...

*366: MTV HD *367: Sky Documentaries HD *368: Sky History HD *369: Sky Nature HD *385: Sky News HD *386: NBC News Now HD *473:

Cartoon Network HD Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, C ...

*474: Boomerang HD *475: Nickelodeon HD *476: Nick Jr. HD ;Big Sport (NOW Sky Sports Pass) *419: Sky Sports News *420: Sky Sports Main Event *421: Sky Sports Premier League *422:

Sky Sports Football Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. I ...

*423: Sky Sports Cricket *424: Sky Sports Golf *425: Sky Sports F1 *426: Sky Sports Action/NFL *427: Sky Sports Arena *428: Sky Sports Racing *429: Sky Sports Mix ;Big Sport (NOW Sky Sports Pass) - HD & 4K bolt-on *439: Sky Sports News HD *440: Sky Sports Main Event HD *441: Sky Sports Premier League HD *442: Sky Sports Football HD *443: Sky Sports Cricket HD *444: Sky Sports Golf HD *445: Sky Sports F1 HD *446: Sky Sports Action/NFL HD *447: Sky Sports Arena HD *448: Sky Sports Racing HD *449: Sky Sports Mix HD ;Sport Pack *408: BT Sport 1 *409: BT Sport 2 *410: BT Sport 3 *411: BT Sport 4 *412:

Eurosport 1 Eurosport 1 is a French television sports network channel which is a division of Eurosport and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Discovery took a 20% minority interest share in December 2012, and became majority shareholder in the Eurospo ...

*413: Eurosport 2 *450: BT Sport 5 *451: BT Sport 6 *452: BT Sport 7 *453: BT Sport 8 *454: BT Sport 9 *455: BT Sport 10 ;Sport Pack - HD & 4K bolt-on *430: BT Sport 1 HD *431: BT Sport 2 HD *432: BT Sport 3 HD *433: BT Sport Ultimate (only available on the BT YouView Ultra HD box) *434: BT Sport 4 HD *435: Eurosport 1 HD *436: Eurosport 2 HD *458: BT Sport 5 HD *459: BT Sport 6 HD *460: BT Sport 7 HD *461: BT Sport 8 HD *462: BT Sport 9 HD *463: BT Sport 10 HD ;Sky Cinema bolt-on/NOW Sky Cinema Pass *500: Sky Cinema Animation *501: Sky Cinema Premiere *502: Sky Cinema Select *503: Sky Cinema Hits *504: Sky Cinema Greats *506: Sky Cinema Family *507: Sky Cinema Action *508: Sky Cinema Comedy *509: Sky Cinema Thriller *510: Sky Cinema Drama *511: Sky Cinema Sci-Fi & Horror ;NOW Sky Cinema Pass - HD & 4K bolt-on *514: Sky Cinema Animation HD *515: Sky Cinema Premiere HD *516: Sky Cinema Select HD *517: Sky Cinema Hits HD *518: Sky Cinema Greats HD *520: Sky Cinema Family HD *521: Sky Cinema Action HD *522: Sky Cinema Comedy HD *523: Sky Cinema Thriller HD *524: Sky Cinema Drama HD *525: Sky Cinema Sci-Fi & Horror HD ;Box Office *494: BT Sport Box Office *495: BT Sport Box Office 2 HD *496: Sky Sports Box Office HD *497: Sky Sports Box Office 2 HD ;Netflix bolt-on *333:

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

;Amazon Prime bolt-on *334: Amazon Prime Video These IPTV channels are only available to customers who have access to BT's Infinity fibre-optic broadband along with the relevant BT TV subscription. The channels became available on BT's YouView service in August 2013, with new EPG numbers in the 4xx and 5xx ranges, instead of the 8xx and 9xx ranges which BT Vision had before.

Catch Up and On-Demand

BT TV Players & Apps Catch-up service is available free of charge on any package and include the following: * BBC iPlayer * ITVX * STV Player * All 4 *

My5 My5 (previously Five Download and later Demand 5) is the brand name of video-on-demand services offered by Channel 5 in the United Kingdom. The service went live on 26 June 2008. It is owned by Paramount Global and operated by their Paramoun ...

* BT Player * Milkshake! (Channel 5's children's programmes) * UKTV Play *

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking ...

;App access to the following services *

* Now * Amazon Video From late May 2008, BT Vision discontinued free access to BBC TV replay, instead requiring Vision users to take out a monthly subscription. However, in November 2010, BT announced that BT Vision subscribers would be able to access the BBC iPlayer from the end of June 2011. This service was built by Pushbutton for Microsoft Mediaroom. ITV Player has been available since December 2008.

Demand 5 My5 (previously Five Download and later Demand 5) is the brand name of video-on-demand services offered by Channel 5 in the United Kingdom. The service went live on 26 June 2008. It is owned by Paramount Global and operated by their Paramoun ...

was removed on 6 October 2010, but was reinstated in May 2011. ;BT TV Store Content is provided by: * BBC *

Crime & Investigation Network Crime & Investigation (stylized as Crime + Investigation) is an American pay television channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between the Hearst Communications and the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company. The ...

* Comedy Central *

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widel ...

* ITV *

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

* Channel 5 * Warner Bros. Television *

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

CBS Television Studios CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount Television, as a renaming of the ...

* Sony Pictures Television * Discovery Channel * ABC Studios ;BT Sport In addition to the BT Sport channels, an archive of football,

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat s ...

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

, martial arts, motor sports and extreme sports matches available on-demand, with a few on a pay per view basis. This used to be called Vision Sport but has subsequently been merged with BT Sport for on-demand content and the name Vision Sport is no longer in use. ;BT TV Kids BT TV has agreed deals with: * BBC (CBBC/Cbeebies) *

* Boomerang * HIT Entertainment * DreamWorks Classics ;BT TV Film BT TV Film is accessed through the BT TV Player app and provides a library of the latest blockbuster films on a pay per view basis. Films on BT TV Player mainly come from the following content providers * DreamWorks *

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primar ...

* Lionsgate films * Buena Vista International *

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit ...

* Touchstone Pictures *

Miramax Films Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. It was initially a lead ...

* Pixar * Warner Bros. * Momentum Pictures * MGM *

Artificial Eye Curzon Film (), formerly known as Artificial Eye or Curzon Artificial Eye, is a British film distributor, specialising in independent, foreign-language and art house films for cinema and home entertainment. History Artificial Eye was founded i ...

BT TV also gives users access to

Curzon Home Cinema Curzon Home Cinema is a video-on-demand streaming service available in the UK and Ireland where movies are available to rent on a 'pay per watch' basis. It is part of the Curzon World group which has roots going back to 1934. Films on this service ...

directly from their BT TV YouView box within the BT TV Player app where they can purchase some of the latest films without the need to connect to a different device. ;BT Music BT TV has agreed deals with: *

Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyou ...

EMI Music EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 2012 ...

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and it ...

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and th ...

* NBD * Planet Rock who provide over 1,500 music videos, concerts and music documentaries, on-demand available for rent without the need for a BT TV Music Bolt-on.

YouView from BT

On 21 September 2012, BT, one of the partners of YouView, announced that they would provide a free YouView box to its broadband subscribers. This new service will allow customers to access BT Vision's on demand content, YouView's EPG technologies such as 'scrollback', and Now TV. This came weeks after TalkTalk launched its new YouView-based TV service

. YouView from BT launched on 26 October 2012. On 27 June 2013, the CEO of BT's TV division, Marc Watson, said that BT Vision will be rebranded as 'BT TV', together with the YouView service under an ''umbrella brand''. BT aimed to offer sports on the YouView service. However, on 1 August 2013, BT was refused by rival

to broadcast

on BT's YouView service. This meant that the Vision+ box would continue to be distributed for the purpose of Sky Sports and the extra linear channels (as of 27 June), as long until these features would be finally available on BT YouView. On 9 August 2013, the 18 extra linear channels from BT Vision were successfully added to the BT YouView EPG and ready for streaming. Just two days prior to this, both BT and TalkTalk asked Digital UK to expand the streamed IP channel range from 400–499 to 400–599, as they both claim to launch over a hundred new streamed channels via YouView.

Vision+ PVR

The Vision+ is a

set-top box A set-top box (STB), also colloquially known as a cable box and historically television decoder, is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV-tuner input and displays output to a television set and an external source of s ...

, similar to Sky+ and V+, that enables 100 hours of television programmes to be recorded while watching other live programmes. The service is described as providing a range of on-demand content without compulsory subscriptions. However, a BT broadband connection with a guaranteed line speed is required. A self-install version and a technician install version of BT Vision are available. This box can access standard definition Freeview broadcasts where available, on-demand SD and HD content from BT, along with linear VOD channels through BT Infinity. The original silver Vision+ box is a

Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, ...

HDTV9719 running Saorview software for the IPTV signals. The OS is BT TV. The next generation Vision+ box was made by

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola ...

. The new black Vision+ box is made by

Pace Pace or paces may refer to: Business *Pace (transit), a bus operator in the suburbs of Chicago, US *Pace Airlines, an American charter airline * Pace Foods, a maker of a popular brand of salsa sold in North America, owned by Campbell Soup Compan ...

. BT released a new

Humax Humax (휴맥스) is a consumer electronics company. Founded in South Korea in 1989, it manufactures set-top boxes, digital video recorders and other consumer electronics. It is publicly traded on KOSDAQ. Listed on the Korean stock exchange ( ...

set top box in late 2012 offering Freeview HD services, linear VOD HD channels through BT Infinity, and on-demand boxsets, catchup TV and other new features as part of the YouView service. The original silver Vision+ boxes will be no use after 30 June 2014. All customers will get a free upgrade to YouView, worth £199, if they recontract for 18 months. Users of the black Vision+ boxes are unaffected.

Launch packages

The newly rebranded BT TV had three packages as of 10 August 2013: ''TV Essential'', ''Essential Extra'', and ''Unlimited Extra''. All packages came with a YouView box with

television and radio channels, catch-up TV and the ability to pause, record and rewind live TV. A Vision+ box was provided for

customers, until 30 June 2014. Vision TV, Music, Kids and Sport were on-demand. All cost 50p a show with ''TV Essential'', and were free and unlimited with ''TV Unlimited''. Vision Filmclub was available for free with ''TV Unlimited'', and is not available for ''TV Essential''. Vision Box Office was on a pay per view basis, available with both ''TV Essential'' and ''TV Unlimited''.

April 2015 packages

On 24 April 2015 BT TV launched revised packages as follows: * Starter – Freeview, Catch Up TV, BT Sport, AMC, Pause & Rewind (Set Top Box supplied does not record) * Entertainment Plus – As per Starter plus with ability to Record TV, 28 linear IPTV channels and Mobile App access to IPTV * Total Entertainment – As per Entertainment Plus with inclusive Ultra HD, HD Extra and Kids Extra bolt ons BT customers without Infinity broadband can only obtain the Starter package, with BT Sport only available on Starter via IPTV in certain areas. Entertainment packages are only available to those with Infinity broadband. Unicast IPTV streaming bolt-ons for

, BT Kids (children's content) or BT Music content can be added to all packages. Multicast IPTV Bolt-ons for Sky Sports Main Event & Extra, Sky Movies and HD channels can only be added to Entertainment packages. BT Sport and AMC channels are available free of charge for customers with BT Infinity fibre-optic broadband. For customers who don't have access to BT's fibre-optic network, these can watch these channels via DTT on a Vision+ box. On 24 January 2014 BT ceased to sell BT Sport via DTT, and subsequently ceased provision of BT Sport 2 via DTT on 1 January 2015. BT Sport 1 ended on DTT on 2 June 2015.

References

External links

BT Vision
official site. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bt Vision BT Group Television in the United Kingdom Mass media companies of the United Kingdom Video on demand services Mass media companies established in 2006 Pay television