BT TV future

[garybs29]

I'd be reluctant to look at sky stream for one reason - having to pay for ad skipping, they'll literally charge for anything

[DarrenDev]

I'm pretty sure the block on ad skipping will eventually hit BT TV too - if the content owners demand it, we are forced to implement it. It's that, or they block their service on our platform. I'm not aware of any imminent deadlines, but it's bound to happen eventually.

As far as innovation goes - all the effort was put into BT Sport for years, where we had a number of world-firsts and award winning features. TV has always been living in sport's shadow. Now that BT Sport is gone, TV has had a massive boost in attention and things are starting to happen again. There's still a LOT to do though - a list of tasks that could keep the YouView team going for years.

We're into customer trials with the first phase of some of the new stuff now, so "soon" means weeks rather than months.

[Brucemeister5]

I’d be reluctant to look at Sky Stream too, but for other reasons though. I had Sky up until 2010 and although I think they’re a slightly different beast under Comcast’s control, there’s still plenty of things about their service that I dislike. You’re still obliged to take the Entertainment package whether you want it or not, if you only really want sport. It’s actually better to go direct to NOW if you just want sport.

The things that BT TV has in its favour are the flexibility to change base packs and customise your package with other add-ons as you choose. The ability to record is still important and would still be a consideration in our house. Being able to have just Sky Sports and TNT Sports without Entertainment is attractive and at a decent price. 

I’m interested to see how BT TV develops and will be looking forward to some of the new stuff being introduced before our contract is up.

[Bond_1337]

Company financial statements often provide a clue as to the direction.

6. BT Sport disposal
In August 2022 the group formed a sports joint venture (Sports JV) with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) combining
BT Sport and WBD's Eurosport UK business. As part of the transaction, the group's wholly owned subsidiary, British
Telecommunications plc (BT plc or BT) and WBD has each contributed, sub-licensed or delivered the benefit of their
respective sports rights and distribution businesses for the UK & Ireland to the Sports JV. Both parties each hold a
50% interest and equal voting rights in the Sports JV.
BT Sport’s distribution agreement with Virgin Media has transferred to the Sports JV, and the Sports JV has also
entered into a new agreement with Sky extending beyond 2030 to provide for its distribution of the Sports JV’s
combined sports content.
The production and operational assets of BT Sport have transferred to WBD who will manage and operate the
production of the Sports JV's sport content.
BT plc has entered into a distribution agreement with the Sports JV to procure the sport content required to
continue to supply our broadband, TV and mobile customers. BT plc’s agreement with the Sports JV will extend
beyond 2030 and for the first four years includes a minimum revenue guarantee of approximately £500m per annum,
after which the agreement will change to a fully variable arrangement.
At completion of the transaction, BT no longer has control of the BT Sport operations based on the assessment of
ownership and joint control over the key decisions of the Sports JV (50/50 with WBD) established through the
Sports JV agreement. The group’s retained ordinary equity interest in the combined business has been classified as a
joint venture under IFRS 11.
WBD will have the option to acquire BT plc’s 50% interest in the Sports JV at specified points during the first four
years of the Sports JV (Call Option). The price payable under the Call Option will be 50% of the fair market value of
the Sports JV to be determined at the time of the exercise, plus any unpaid fixed consideration and remaining earn-
out as described below. If the Call Option is not exercised, BT plc will have the ability to exit its shareholding in the
Sports JV either through a sale or IPO after the initial four-year period.

The group has valued its interest in the Sports JV based on the estimated fair value at exit and using the following key
assumptions:
• BT expect to realise its interest in the Sports JV through exit rather than ongoing value in use;
• BT expect WBD to exercise its option to acquire BT’s 50% interest in the Sports JV at the end of the first four
years of the Sports JV; and
• An earnings multiple has been applied to the expected year 5 EBITDA per the jointly-agreed business plan -
the multiple is at the lower end of a possible range identified from comparable peers and transactions in the
premium sports subscription and broadcasting market.

[stereohaven]

No email here either on AMC, but I am only using BT TV for a £10 per month TNT Sport deal and use Discovery+ to watch. The pro box is currently packed up in a cupboard.

Not a fan of the Sky Stream hardware personally (general app performance and the skip ads bolt on in operation), but live channels are really good quality and as others have mentioned, no restrictions on UHD in multiple rooms if you have the bandwidth. It’s an infinitely better solution than Sky Glass.

The Sky USP remains the UX and the fact you can access everything in one place.

I’ll continue to watch how BT TV develops as I have another 16 months to go on my current contract, but have Sky Q for main family viewing of live TV or recordings. I use my Apple TV for app viewing.

I think the most likely downfall of BT TV in our house will be connected to the lack of a plan for Openreach to deploy FTTH here.

We will move in a nano second to the altnet that turns up first. Probably Toob in our case locally as they are now deploying in surrounding towns.

Personally I prefer the ability to record and the benefits of multicast delivery over unicast, sadly  I think I am in a minority! 

[tweetSP0RT]

I switched to Sky Stream towards the end of last year as I wanted Sky Sports in UHD and whilst I've had very few issues there is definitely a difference in customer experience when it comes to fixing them. @DarrenDev and others could teach those at Sky a thing or two in how to deal with forum users (who are after probably the most engaged users) when things are going wrong!

I've actually renewed my BT TV/broadband deal (unexpectedly) because much like @stereohaven the offer I got for broadband/TNT Sports actually worked out cheaper overall even more so now I've cancelled the UHD add-on with that being 'free' on D+

At one point Ultimate was something BT had over Sky but now it isn't (and without Sky's UHD channels) the platform based on current features has very little to keep me if I don't get offered a similar deal next time around (by which time I'd guess the Sports JV will be fully under WBD control).

[FC12]

If I don’t see the likes of YouTube , Disney , Paramount , Apple TV+ appear as apps on my pro box before my contract expires next year I am out! 

[zulu17]

Well BT Group were advertising for a senior position in the TV service recently. The details did suggest to me that  there would be Ongoing evolution of the Wi-Fi and Aerial Free flagship set top boxes  alongside expansion onto new devices and ecosystems.

[stereohaven]

I hope that feeds into the original rumours thread I posted as I am really interested to see what “EE TV” looks like on Apple TV.

[Weerab1983]

I've never used Apple TV to be honest. I am usually a fire stick person but recently I've been using Roku