BT’s announcement that Freeview channels are now available on its TV boxes without an aerial is good news for those with dodgy reception in their area – while most of the content on the BT TV Box Pro was already based on streaming, Freeview still required an aerial – until now.
With the new “Internet Mode”, available on the Box Pro and the newly released Box Mini, customers can watch Freeview channels aerial free, and even continue to record and pause live programmes.
However, there’s also some bad news: As with Virgin’s Stream Box and Sky Glass – BT’s streaming competitors – you only get some, and not all, of the Freeview channels on BT TV’s ‘Internet Mode’.
So while many of the big and well-known Freeview/YouView channels are here, many other major Freeview channels are still missing – such as the NOW 70s / NOW 80s / NOW 90s music channels, the Great! Movie Channels (formerly Sony Movies), QVC and others.
According to BT, more channels will be added in the future. But for now, here’s the complete list of streaming apps and channels which are available as of this writing.
BT TV Box Pro / Box Mini: Streaming Apps
Compared to other streaming devices, the BT TV boxes only offer a handful of apps. Therefore, Disney+, Apple TV+, Paramount+, YouTube and many others are not currently available.
But these are the apps that you do get, as of this writing:
BT TV Apps:
- Sky’s NOW (With its streaming TV memberships – Entertainment, Cinema, Sports and Kids)
- BT Sport
- BT Player (BT’s VOD store)
- AMC Channel
YouView/Freeview Catch-up Apps:
- BBC iPlayer
- ITV Hub
- All4
- My5
- UKTV Play
- S4C
- STV Player
- POP Player
- BBC Sounds
Entertainment/Kids Streaming Apps:
- Netflix
- Amazon’s Prime Video
- BritBox
- Milkshake!
- VOD365 – includes YAAS, Ketchup Kids, Planet Knowledge & Sports Channel Network
- CBS / Legend Catchup
- S4C Clic
- PlayWorks
BT TV Box Pro / Box Mini: Streaming Freeview Channels
Note that many of these channels are available in HD – even channels that aren’t currently in HD when you use a Freeview box and an aerial.
Furthermore, BBC News HD – which is no longer available on Freeview when you use an aerial – is available here.
- BBC One HD
- BBC Two HD
- ITV1 HD (UTV HD for viewers in Northern Ireland)
- Channel 4 HD (S4C for viewers in Wales)
- Channel 5 HD
- ITV2 HD
- BBC Alba HD (for viewers in Scotland only), Channel 4 HD for viewers in Wales)
- BBC Four HD (BBC Scotland HD for viewers in Scotland)
- ITV 3 HD
- Sky Arts
- Quest
- E4
- Film4
- REALLY
- More4
- 5USA HD
- BBC Three HD
- BBC Four HD (for viewers in Scotland only)
- ITV4 HD
- ITVBe HD
- E4 Extra
- 5Star HD
- 5 Action HD
- Pick
- DMAX
- QUEST RED
- Legend
- food network
- HGTV
- Challenge
- 4seven
- 5SELECT HD
- CBS reality
- Reality Xtra
- CBBC HD
- CBeebies HD
- CITV HD
- BBC News HD
- BBC Parliament HD
- Sky News
- BBC Sounds Radio channels
- Additional regional channels (where available)
BT TV Aerial Free Channels List: What’s Missing?
While all the public broadcasters are here, along with a decent list of other Freeview channels – some popular channels that are available when you plug an aerial in, are not available on BT’s boxes when you use them in Internet Mode.
Some of the major Freeview channels that are currently missing from BT TV Box Pro (aerial free) and BT TV Box Mini are:
NOW 70s / NOW 80s / NOW 90s – A trio of Freeview music channels that air nonstop music from different decades.
Great! TV / Great! Movies / Great! Movies Action / Great Movies Classic – These were formerly known as the Sony Movies channels, and they’re normally available on Freeview and Freesat. They mostly air a revolving selection of older movies and old TV shows.
QVC – The popular TV shopping channels are available on Freeview, Freesat and Sky – but shoppers won’t be able to find them on BT TV’s internet-only mode.
TalkTV / GBNews – The two right-winged news channels won’t be available here either as Freeview channels or via their streaming apps.
That’s TV: A channel dedicated to classic TV and nostalgia, with old British comedy programmes like The Benny Hill Show.
