Help, please! Re youview box and subscriptions

[picard999]

I have a neighbour. He has BT internet and a BT youview box. On that youview box he has paid subscription channels (sports, films etc)

Yesterday, he binned BT internet for a different provider and I've spent considerable time trying to get his subscription channels to work with his new provider...

The question is...with paid subscriptions on a youview box, do you HAVE to have BT Broadband to view them?

Simple query, but can't find an answer!

Many thanks for any advice offered!

[rbz5416]

If he's cancelled broadband that would also cancel TV, assuming the subscription was through BT.

You can also only view channels via the EPG with BT broadband.

If he's subscribed directly to Now then he can view via their app.

[Paul608085]

@picard999 

"I've spent considerable time trying to get his subscription channels to work with his new provider..."

Assuming that you are talking about the NOW TV channels via the EPG, you are wasting your time - it will not work on anything other than BT, (probably EE), broadband.

The channels should still work via the NOW app on the YouView box though.

"do you HAVE to have BT Broadband to view them"

Yes.

For info, BT TV and BT Sport were designed as a way to drive people to BT Broadband, at a time when BT were hemorrhaging broadband customers to Sky etc.

.

[picard999]

Ok...not quite that simple!

He HASNT cancelled his BT Broadband...he's a rural customer , hard to reach...he has 12 months left on his BT TV and broadband contract...the scheme means he lets that run and keeps paying both....he's cancelled NOTHING...he gets the new broadband for FREE for the remainder of his contract...

So as far as BT is concerned he still has BT TV and BT Broadband...he's physically disconnected the broadband...

Hence the question...MUST you have BT Broadband to access BT subscription services on a youview box? Or can you use a 3rd party ISP

I guess I'm asking is the box hard wired to only provide BT subscriptions to BT broadband customers...

[picard999]

Thanks. That answers the question specifically and concisely ..

[Paul608085]

@picard999 

"I guess I'm asking is the box hard wired to only provide BT subscriptions to BT broadband customers..."

It is nothing to do with the YouView box, only the BT Broadband network carries the BT TV signals.

It doesn't matter if your neighbour is still paying for BT Broadband, unless the YouView box is connected to it, it will not work.

***EDIT***

To add to this, YouView as originally designed, when the BBC etc were involved, worked with any Internet Service Provider - boxes could be bought in Argos etc. When BT took it over and it became BT YouView, it only worked on BT Broadband.

.

[picard999]

Thanks for the absolute clarity. Just been down and connected him successfully via the Now App

He is deliriously happy!

[Paul608085 · Accepted solution]

@picard

I'm confused:

In your first post you said "Yesterday, he binned BT internet for a different provider ", and in a later post you said "He HASNT cancelled his BT Broadband...he's a rural customer , hard to reach...he has 12 months left on his BT TV and broadband contract...the scheme means he lets that run and keeps paying both....he's cancelled NOTHING...he gets the new broadband for FREE for the remainder of his contract..."

So surely the BT Broadband is still active to his home, but "he's physically disconnected the broadband."

Do you mean that your neighbour has disconnected their hub/router? If so, why not just reconnect it and plug only the YouView box in to it, whilst keeping the new broadband for everything else? That way the EPG channels that are still being paid for, will work.

.

[picard999]

I've introduced him to the app and taken your fine suggestion of hooking the box back up to BT broadband until the subscription expires ..

Thanks

[Midnight_Voice]

@picard999 

If he hasn’t cancelled BT Broadband, then his EETV subscription (Now (Sky) Entertainment, TNT Sports if he has it, Discovery+, possibly Now (Sky) Sports, Now (Sky) Cinema, Netflix) will remain available to him, and whatever he can watch over apps, on the Box Pro or other EETV hardware, or on any other hardware he has with those apps (Smart TV, Firestick, Roku device) will still work.

What will stop working on all EETV devices is the channels related to the above services that he gets over the EPG if he is in Aerial Mode, or everything over the EPG if he is in IP Mode.

And any recordings made from those channels would no longer play.

To get these, or to get these back, he must be connected to BT or EE broadband.

If he did actually cancel BT Broadband, then the app services would stop for any app with a subscription paid for via EETV, unless he had the subscription(s) moved from EETV back to direct payment to the app provider.

Apps provided free, like the BBC iPlayer, would continue to work OK.