You are right, I'm sure, 'Grouchy'. 
And today's the day!
What has irritated me more than anything else is that NOBODY from BT itself has felt it appropriate to monitor this forum thread, give feedback to 'management' and then have a spokesperson from BT itself endeavour to placate the few folk who have bothered to express their views here! Grrrr!
BT might well not care how I feel about them withdrawing a service - for which I have been paying - without even a gesture of monetary compensation NOR an explanation! I can, though, vote with my feet and move to another service provider. That is most certainly now under consideration.
I do believe it was 'Ectophile' who said ...........
"To me it's just another reason not to stay with BT. Having to sign up to Giganews for a subscription, even at a discounted rate, is not another cost I want to pay every month."
BD feels exactly the same way! 
You are correct 'licquorice' - in spite of an email I received on Wednesday!
A LIE!
It said ........
*Your Usenet service with BT has stopped*
Hello Mr B*****
We wrote to you recently about your Usenet service stopping on 3 December. That's because our partnership with Giganews has now come to an end.
But don't worry, you can keep using the service if you want to. Our friends at Giganews have a great offer for all BT Broadband customers.
Get better features at a special discount
If you haven't already, you can sign up for a subscription with them. You'll not only keep the service you know and love, you'll also get some extra features (like 24/7 support and better security).
And that's not all. They'll also give you 10% off their standard monthly price, and on top of that:
50% off the Diamond plan for the first two months, or
50% off any other plans for the first month.
Don't miss out – offer ends 31 March 2015
To find out more about Giganews subscriptions, the extra features and how to claim your special discount, go to bt.com/giganews. (You can only access this link using your BT Broadband.)
Thanks for choosing BT.
Libby Barr
Managing Director, Customer Care
=============================
I wonder just how much this individual receives as remuneration for the care she provides to BT's customers!
In my day, this person would have lost their job for incompetance!
D.
@BoaterDave wrote:I do believe it was 'Ectophile' who said ...........
"To me it's just another reason not to stay with BT. Having to sign up to Giganews for a subscription, even at a discounted rate, is not another cost I want to pay every month."
BD feels exactly the same way!
Yes, I did say that. That doesn't change the fact that, to the best of my knowledge, BT haven't advertised usenet access as a feature of their service for a very long time, if ever. It was freebie that they have thrown in.
I haven't signed up to the expensive Giganews service. Mind you, I wouldn't need to yet, since the usenet access is still working. I may well sign up for one of the free text-only newsgroup servers when BT/Giganews eventually turn the service off, but I will miss the binary newsgroups (but not enough to fork out money for).
What I did do was threaten to leave BT, which I could do because of the recent price rise. BT offered me an even bigger discount than I was previously on to persuade me to stay.
