This topic

How would not having a freeview aerial restrict me?

Ant4 — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 13:16:00 GMT

I'm thinking of switching from Sky Q to BT TV. We have a combined Freesat/Sky satellite dish, and we chose not to have a normal TV aerial installed here. Freeview is very intermittent in these parts and we lost TV for weeks at a time in our old house.

Freesat and Freeview have now combined as a company, and presumably will eventually offer standardised content on both platforms (even if not in the same quality).

I see that BT offer a TV aerial installation for £30 if I join up. But if I choose not to have that installed (given that we know it won't be reliable), how will that impact BT TV and its epg? We will still have Freesat with a Freesat box and will therefore be able to see the Freesat epg on the Freesat box. But will Freeview schedules show on the BT box epg even if we don't have a TV aerial supplying Freeview? It would be nice to be able to see the schedule for everything in one place, even if we then have to switch to Freesat to watch it.

And can anyone think of any other downsides if we decide not to have an aerial that supports Freeview?

Re: How would not having a freeview aerial restrict me?

NigelB72 — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 14:09:07 GMT

You wouldn't be able to do the initial setup for the box.

Re: How would not having a freeview aerial restrict me?

yuha_2000 — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 14:33:45 GMT

Not sure why you would bother at all plugging a BT TV box in if it will only show internet stuff?

I'd just stick to using the apps on a smart TV, NOWTV and Netflix etc?

Re: How would not having a freeview aerial restrict me?

Ant4 — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 15:08:02 GMT

"Not sure why you would bother at all plugging a BT TV box in if it will only show internet stuff?

I'd just stick to using the apps on a smart TV, NOWTV and Netflix etc?"

And this is why I dislike community forums .... 🙂

I know precisely why I want BT. I was just wondering if anyone could answer my question, which was what happens if I don't have a Freeview aerial.

Re: How would not having a freeview aerial restrict me?

Ant4 — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 15:05:26 GMT

"You wouldn't be able to do the initial setup for the box".

Could you do it with an indoor aerial? We can borrow one to do the setup.

Re: How would not having a freeview aerial restrict me?

yuha_2000 — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 15:06:03 GMT

I have a working aerial and a smart TV

I have recently got the BT TV Pro box, but considering not using it, I use NOW TV app and NETFlix app on my TV with BT "entertainment package currently paying £6/month

So yeah go fo it and just leave the BT TV box boxed up or loan it a friend for "freeview" recording. I think the box is BT property so u cant sell it 😞

I haven't tried my BT TV box without a aerial

Re: How would not having a freeview aerial restrict me?

iniltous — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 15:06:30 GMT

AFAIK , the EPG is over air , not downloaded , so even if you fooled the initial setup with a temporary aerial connection to get past the setup phase, the EPG would soon lose data apart from the VOD channels

Re: How would not having a freeview aerial restrict me?

Ant4 — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 15:09:39 GMT

"I have a working aerial and a smart TV

I have recently got the BT TV Pro box, but considering not using it, I use NOW TV app and NETFlix app on my TV with BT "entertainment package currently paying £6/month

So yeah go fo it and just leave the BT TV box boxed up or loan it a friend for "freeview" recording. I think the box is BT property so u cant sell it "

Thank you but this does not answer my question about epg on the BT box.

Re: How would not having a freeview aerial restrict me?

Ant4 — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 15:19:34 GMT

"AFAIK , the EPG is over air , not downloaded , so even if you fooled the initial setup with a temporary aerial connection to get past the setup phase, the EPG would soon lose data apart from the VOD channels"

Thank you. So it should show all the BT Sports, Sky Sports, Sky Entertainment channels and anything extra I subscribe to, but just not the Freeview channels...

I can live with that.

Re: How would not having a freeview aerial restrict me?

yuha_2000 — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 15:26:56 GMT

Not so sure... Lots of people including me saying the NOW tv channels don't appear in the EPG

Re: How would not having a freeview aerial restrict me?

NigelB72 — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 20:32:11 GMT

@Ant4 as long as the aerial will pull in enough signal for the initial setup, that'll be fine. Once it's up and running, you can unplug the aerial and just run the IP channels and apps.👍

Re: How would not having a freeview aerial restrict me?

NigelB72 — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 20:33:56 GMT

@yuha_2000 the NowTV channels are in the EPG. If yours aren't, try running a software update through the settings menu as that normally fixes that issue.

Re: How would not having a freeview aerial restrict me?

yuha_2000 — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 10:29:54 GMT

tried everything 😞 reboot, reset, reboot wifi, update apps everything 😞

Searching this forum it would seem i am not alone. Lots don't have the IP channels in the EPG 😞 And when ringing BT they say its not a feature, IP channels only thru the now tv app !

I "think" maybe its because BT inherited my now tv package so the usernames / ID's have got , misaligned?!