Advanced Television

BT TV à la carte options

October 28, 2013

BT has stepped up its efforts to attract TV customers with a major launch of new channels and by offering customers the chance to build their own TV package made up of just the content they actually want to watch.

BT’s core Entertainment pack – £7 (€8.21) a month – includes 18 popular pay TV channels, such as Discovery, National Geographic, Comedy Central and Gold.

The telco launching two additional channel bolt-ons for just £3 a month each: HD Extra which features high definition versions of many of the channels in Entertainment, plus the three BT Sport channels in HD, and Kids Extra, featuring nine popular kids channels including Nickelodeon, Disney, Boomerang and Cartoon Network.

These channel bolt-ons are available to all customers with BT Infinity who take the Entertainment pack. The company has also introduced a ‘three for £20’ deal for new customers, (BT line rental £15.45 a month) until December 9. This offers Infinity fibre-optic broadband, the Entertainment channels pack, BT Sport and a free award-winning YouView box featuring catch up TV from all the major public sector broadcasters and more than 70 Freeview TV and radio channels.

This compares to Sky’s entry-level TV Entertainment pack at £21.50 a month that does not include fibre broadband or Sky Sports.

BT is also changing its on demand offerings to flexible monthly bolt-ons, allowing customers to choose from Kids or Music on demand at £3 a month each or Film & TV Box Sets at £5 per month. The Music bolt on will feature music videos, karaoke, concerts and also from this week, a wide range of complete albums.

The on demand bolt-ons are available to all existing customers and can be added to the basic Essential pack at £5 a month or, for Infinity customers, added to the Entertainment pack at £7 a month.

Customers can also take advantage of BT TV’s recent deal with BSkyB by adding 11 Sky Movies channels for £16 a month and from BT’s growing Box Office service including the Curzon Home Cinema deal that the company recently announced. The partnership with Curzon offers customers the ability to view films in their theatrical window from the comfort of their own home as well as exclusively curated sessions – only available on BT TV.

Alex Green, director of TV for BT, said the new line-up was undoubtedly BT’s strongest TV offering. “BT TV now offers over 100 TV channels, including more than 50 delivered via our broadband network. We can offer a fantastic HD quality experience through the power of fibre, and there’s something for all the family with our great new Kids channels. We know that customers don’t like paying a fortune for hundreds of channels they never watch so we’re making things easier for them and putting the choice in their hands.”

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