Halo 3+ TV box ?

[uld]

I have Halo3+ and my TV set-top box is an elderly non-recordable YouView type (just called "TV Box" in EE-speak).

When I contracted for Halo 3+ I had the option of having a recordable TV box as part of the deal, but - as I had (and still have) no interest in recording TV programmes and there was a £30 set-up charge - I chose not to take up that option.

Halo3+ entitles me to Discovery+ Premium, but I now realise that - to gain this feature - either an EE TV Box Pro recordable box or an EE TV Box Mini non-recordable box is required. At present I can access the four TNT Sports channels and Eurosport 1&2 satisfactorily via my current "TV Box", but not Discovery+.

If I buy an EE TV Box Mini on-line (about £30) and replace my "TV Box" with it, will I then be able to get Discovery+ automatically, please?

Alternatively, if I had not been stingy and paid the £30 charge when I contracted for Halo3+, presumably I would have been sent a TV Box Pro (its wi-fi capability might have proved useful) not one of the other EE recordable boxes. So perhaps it might be better to ask for a TV Box Pro retrospectively - but who would I ask?

All advice gratefully received...

[-Richie-]

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@uldwrote:

Halo3+ entitles me to Discovery+ Premium

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Halo benefits only apply to broadband, if you have an entitlement to Discovery+ premium, it's because you have a TNT Sports subscription.
You could check if you have suitable hardware to view it already, have a look at discovery+ supported devices 

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@uldwrote:

So perhaps it might be better to ask for a TV Box Pro retrospectively - but who would I ask?

All advice gratefully received...

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You want the sales team, either the Loyalty or Value team can help, you might have to renew again to qualify, they'll take you through your options though and any deals that you might qualify for.

[NeilO]

@uld welcome to the community and thanks for posting. If you source your own EE TV mini box it will work but I would recommend getting in touch with the sales team on 0800 800 150 to discuss your options first.

Thanks

Neil

[uld]

Thanks for your responses.

Putting aside the TV issue for now, I'm not exactly sure what I have Discovery+-wise.

As I said above I have (or actually my wife has) Halo 3+ broadband and (according to my.bt.com) a "SPORT TV" package that includes TNT SPORTS and Discovery+ with the constituents of the package described as follow:

• All 4 TNT Sports channels
• Live coverage of every UEFA Champions League and Europa League match. Exclusive Premier League games, Gallagher Premiership Rugby, MotoGP, UFC, Boxing, WWE and more
• discovery+ Premium, Eurosport 1 & 2
• Includes a recordable TV box, watch up to 94 free-to-air channels including 16 in HD and AMC – exclusive to EE

"monthly TV extras" are shown as Apple TV+ (that could added at extra cost)  and Discovery+ that is shown as ACTIVE.

When (on my elderly iMac desktop computer) I click on the Discovery+ "Manage" button, a discovery+ webpage opens and it's evident that I am signed in. (I registered on Discovery+ a couple of years ago when it had no links to BT or EE, but I never used it and my account there has been dormant since.)

My Discovery+ account shows that I currently have no active subscriptions (which is true) so if I wanted to make use of Discovery+ I would have to purchase 'passes'. So what does Discovery+Premium that's included in the SPORT TV package actually provide if I should wish to use a computer, tablet or phone rather that a TV set-top box?

It seems that, although BT 'gives' me Discovery+Premium as part of my SPORT TV package, Discovery+ does not recognise this from the account that I opened in the past, despite me entering Discovery+ through the my.bt.com portal.

[zulu17]

@uld  wrt discovery+  have a look at this thread

https://community.bt.com/t5/TNT-Sports-on-TV-Online-player/Trouble-activating-discovery-Read-this-fi...

wrt Apple TV + there is a 3 month free offer from BT  that if not cancelled would incur standard charges  after that time,

https://www.bt.com/help/tv/learn-about-tv/channels-and-packages/get-free-apple-tv#:~:text=How%20does....

[uld]

An update...

I now have an EE TV Box Pro set-top box.

Obtaining it involved a 90-minutes convoluted phone conversation with the BT Sales team that included suggestions (from the team)  involving buying a box from ebay, using Discovery+ on a mobile device, re-contracting to full-fibre and VoIP (?) with me emphasising repeatedly that my wife's  present BT TV contract (that I manage) includes Discovery+ Premium and a recordable TV box, but - as she did not receive a recordable TV box when she re-contracted in mid-2023 and we need one to watch Discovery+ on our TV - please could we be sent the necessary box now and we would be happy to pay a reasonable sum for it.

Finally I was transferred to the Tech team and was asked what the TV-related problem I was having was. When I explained, the immediate response was on the lines of "I don't understand why you were transferred here, when all you need is a current-model recordable TV box that has the Discovery+ app on it  - £30  + postage". 

A brief (temporary) test confirmed that the new box does indeed have the Discovery+ app on it and - having subsequently reverted to our cranky old BT box - before swapping back to the new box, I now need to work out how to link my wife's BT account to Discovery+ so that we get the Premium service free of charge.

[stereohaven]

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@uldwrote:

...I now need to work out how to link my wife's BT account to Discovery+ so that we get the Premium service free of charge.

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Have you tried the instructions here @uld ?

https://www.bt.com/sport/discovery-plus 

[uld]

Not yet.

I've opened the link helpfully provided by zulu17 and that looked promising.

The reasons I wanted a recordable TV box from BT/EE and free access to Discovery+ Premium was primarily for future-proofing.

The Eurosport 1 & 2 channels that our TV package currently gives us  have some value (my wife is fond of the cycling) and our only interest in the TNT Sports coverage is when MotoGP races are being shown. BT/EE seem to have a policy of wanted to concentrate sports coverage on to Discovery+ but, at present, I can't see it being of great benefit to us (nor the new box's recording capability).   

I'm a retired old-school computer programmer/systems analyst (26 years misspent at GCHQ) and I'm wary of irreversibly  screwing up my wife's BT account somehow just to get Discovery+ when we don't need it at the moment. So I'm going to research very carefully what I think should be the best way forwards before going ahead. 

What we have at the moment is a mixture of hardware and software for the TV and, while the combination isn't pretty, it works. And you know what they say about "If it ain't broke..."

First thing to do was to obtain from BT/EE a set-top box able to run the Discovery+ app and that hurdle has been jumped. Next step is to get (free) Discovery+ to work, but I'm in no rush.

[uld]

I've now decided that I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing regarding Discovery+ 

The user-name of my wife's BT account has always been the 'historic' type (in her case a combination of her first name and surname) and, as I wondered if this might cause problems, I recently changed it (via MyBT) to the ordinary email address (a @talk21.com address) that she is accustomed to use. This worked fine and I can now  access her BT account (via MyBT) using the @talk21.com email address as her user-name and retaining her original password.

OK, so when (via MyBT) I look at her Sport TV package, the monthly TV extras are shown as Apple TV+ (than I could Add but do not want to) and Discovery+ shown like this

I assume "Active" merely means that Discovery+ is an active part of the TV package and, if I click on the Manage box (I'm doing this on an elderly iMac by the way) a Discovery+ home-screen is displayed that offers me the options to Sign In or Sign Up. Signing in using my wife's MyBT email-address user-name  and password doesn't work and Sign Up does not provide me with Discovery+ Premium free of charge.

Logically, there must be a way to link the Discovery+ element of the TV package on my wife's BT account with Discovery+ (presumably via an email address and a password) but I can't find how to do this.

[uld]

Problem now resolved...

I eventually realised that I must have activated Discovery+ sometime in the past (possibly before I found out that my old BT set-top box could not run the app).  After that eureka moment I was able to run Discovery+ on my iPad and subsequently on my TV via the new recordable TV box.

Thanks for your help.