TV aerial to watch freeview ?

[ATG10]

When I signed up to BT broadband and BT TV recently I mentioned I did not have a TV aerial - and so I was told that from mid-feb I won't need a TV aerial to watch freeview channels with by BT TV, they will just come down via broadband.. Please can you confirm this is correct?

[Keith_Beddoe]

@ATG10

You will need a TV aerial to receive Freeview channels, but not subscribed channels.

https://www.bt.com/help/tv/does-bt-tv-work-without-freeview-

[ATG10]

So the BT agent I spoke to gave me misinformation when selling me the package?

He said an update was due to go out Mid-Feb - release straight to the TV Box that would mean that TV aerials were no longer required and that freeview would come down the broadband...  are there any plans for BT to send out such an update?

[Keith_Beddoe]

I expect there would be licensing issue re-broadcasting content, apart from the massive amount of bandwidth needed for multicasting.

[stereohaven]

It sounds like you have been misinformed, but it is true that Digital UK (Freeview), have been consulting on changes that would enable IP delivery for channels that are available through Freeview Play.

The idea being that if you live in an area where you can only pick up "Freeview Lite", the additional channels you are missing out on could be delivered over broadband, or the HD version could be delivered via IP if your aerial only picks up SD.

That could then lead to all channels being broadcast that way at some point in the future. I haven't heard anything to suggest this is close to being a reality, but I do believe BT did do something like this back in the BT Vision days?

If you are sad like me, here is the consultation paper from Freeview and the changes have been implemented already. 

[DarrenDev]

@ATG10 I can only apologise that you were given a date for this feature - the helpdesk analyst should not have mentioned this to you, as no official launch date has been published.

[Kd91]

@ATG10 I have just signed up myself and was told the exact same thing. I had a full conversation on the phone about this and I was clearly reassured that I would not need an aerial to view freeview channels because of upgrades BT are currently undertaking. I have spoken to a different person from BT today who advised me that it is indeed the case that aerials will no longer be required, but there has been a delay in this upgrade process.

[stereohaven]

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@DarrenDevwrote:

@ATG10 I can only apologise that you were given a date for this feature - the helpdesk analyst should not have mentioned this to you, as no official launch date has been published.

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Well, at least we have it confirmed that it is coming, which will please lots of people with poor Freeview coverage or aerial issues. 

Good call by BT, makes a lot of sense, but as I have experienced in my work life, you must never tell Sales or Support anything until you have a firm launch date, they can't help themselves! 🤣

[DarrenDev]

Just please be aware ... it could launch next week, or it could launch at the end of the year. No date is certain until it's publicly announced, and sales shouldn't be made based on the promise of it coming.

[stereohaven]

The best thing our dev ever did was get rid of calendar based product roadmaps and moved to simply Now, Next and Future without any dates on it... 🤣

The rules are, you can only talk about the "Now" as that is actually happening.