Black Friday is almost here, and BT/EE have unveiled their latest round of TV bundle discounts.
Whether you’re after entertainment bundles featuring Sky’s NOW, Netflix, and Freeview, or comprehensive sports coverage with TNT Sports and Sky Sports, there are significant savings to be had.
Last year, BT changed its TV service to EE TV (EE is also owned by BT). Since then, whether you’re a BT Broadband customer or an EE broadband customer – the pay-TV services you can subscribe to come from EE.
So, for example, new customers can now get the Entertainment TV bundle, which includes several popular streaming services and channels as well as a 4K Freeview recording box or a custom Apple TV 4K box, for just £14/month (instead of the usual £20/m) – for the whole duration of the contract (24 months) – so it’s a total discount of £144.
Alternatively, there are Black Friday discounts on the Sports bundles – with the biggest savings coming on the Big Sport bundle, which includes TNT Sports (formerly known as BT Sport), Eurosport and Discovery+, as well as Sky Sports.
You can currently get that bundle for £35/month (instead of £45/m), for the entire duration – so you end up saving a total of £240.
The upfront setup fee has also been waived on all of the Black Friday bundles.
As always, there are a few caveats – for example, remember that the prices WILL go up in March 2025, according to BT’s new annual price increase model (which means an extra £2/month for the TV bundles).
Also, remember that EE’s TV offers are only available as an add-on for BT and EE Broadband customers – so you can’t get any of them as a standalone offer (like Sky Stream, for example – for that, check out Sky’s Black Friday 2024 offers).
But if you’re not with BT yet, there are discounts to be had on broadband as well.
EE TV Platform Explained
Despite the new name and branding, the bundles and prices for EE TV’s services are almost identical to BT TV’s old bundles and prices.
EE TV’s bundles are “flexible” – which means you can switch between them during your contract (and move up or down to the appropriate price point). So you can stay with ‘Entertainment’ for one month, then switch to ‘Sport’ for a couple of months (or add it on top), etc.
However, you also need to sign a 24-month contract for the Broadband part (either with EE or BT), so you can’t cancel EE TV altogether as long as you’re under contract.
EE TV’s platform offers subscribers a choice between three devices – the EE TV 4K Pro Box (and its ‘Mini’ version) – which is identical to the BT TV 4K Pro Box, and the newer Apple TV 4K EE Box.
The EE TV Box is a 4K/HDR YouView-based device with streaming apps and plenty of storage for Freeview recordings.
It supports Dolby Atmos audio, has 4 tuners (so you can record up to three shows on separate channels and watch a fourth), 1TB of storage, a Bluetooth remote, and both WiFi and Ethernet connectivity.
The EE TV Box Pro also supports quite a few streaming apps – Netflix, Amazon’s Prime Video, NOW, YouTube and more, as well as all the standard catch-up streaming apps – BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4, My5, S4C, STV Player and BBC Sounds.
While not as comprehensive as standalone streaming devices like the Amazon Fire TV sticks or Roku (a few major apps, such as Disney+, are still missing), EE’s box includes many of the important ones.
In addition to the streaming apps, you can use BT’s box to watch many (but not all) Freeview channels without an aerial – and even record programmes from those channels to its internal hard drive, something both Sky Glass / Sky Stream and Virgin’s Stream Box can’t do.
Keep in mind, however, that the Freeview-over-broadband recording option is slowly changing.
Last year, ITVX removed the ability to fast-forward adverts, and more recently, the BBC eliminated the option to record altogether and is instead directing users to BBC iPlayer’s streams.
Alternatively, EE TV offers an exclusive EE version of the Apple TV 4K box, which allows you to access EE TV’s services, including live Freeview channels.
BT / EE Black Friday 2024 Offers
From now until December 12, 2024, you can get most of EE TV’s bundles at a discount – including the Full Works plan, and there are additional discounts for broadband bundles.
BT Broadband Discounts
Of course, since you can’t get EE TV without broadband from EE or BT, let’s start with the broadband discounts.
Customers who haven’t yet signed up for BT’s broadband can currently get, along with some special prices, a “bonus” £50 Virtual Reward Card (on most of the plans).
It’s difficult to compare broadband prices and offers directly, since prices often depend on your location and the type of plans and speeds you can get (check here), but a few examples of the current discounts are:
- Full Fibre 2 (74Mb) at £29.99/month for 24 months, with a £50 Reward Card.
- Full Fibre 100 (150Mb), at £29.99/month for 24 months, with a £50 Reward Card.
- Full Fibre 500 (500Mb), at £39.99/month for 24 months, with a £50 Reward Card.
Keep in mind that the price will go up by £3/month every year on March 31.
Now, let’s go over the TV offers.
The EE TV Entertainment Bundle
- Sky’s streaming service – NOW – with its Entertainment Membership, which includes Sky’s TV channels such as Sky Atlantic and Sky Max.
- Netflix’s Standard with Ads Plan – This plan lets you watch on two devices at a time, with 1080p picture quality – but with adverts.
- Discovery+ (The ‘Basic’ tier only, which includes lifestyle, factual, and reality shows – without sports)
- The EE TV 4K Pro Box or the new EE-branded Apple TV box (both let you watch Freeview over broadband)
You can now get this package for £14/month (instead of £20/month), for the entire duration of your broadband contract (24 months).
Earlier this year, we saw the Entertainment’s bundle price go down to £15/month – so this Black Friday offer is a bigger saving – £144 in total.
Again, remember that all these bundles come with a 24-month contract, and the price will go up by £2/month each year, around March.
The EE TV Sport Bundle
- All 4 TNT Sports channels
- Eurosport 1 and 2
- Discovery+ (Premium – which also includes the streaming versions of Eurosport and TNT Sports)
- The EE TV 4K Pro Box or the new EE-branded Apple TV box
You can now get this package for £15/month (instead of £20/month), for the entire duration of your broadband contract (24 months) – a total saving of £120.
The EE TV Big Sport Bundle
- All 4 TNT Sports channels
- Eurosport 1 and 2
- NOW Sky Sports (with all 11 Sky Sports channels, including the new Sky Sports+)
- Discovery+ (Premium – which also includes the streaming versions of Eurosport and TNT Sports)
- The EE TV 4K Pro Box or the new EE-branded Apple TV box
You can now get this bundle for £35/month (instead of £45/month), for the entire duration of the contract (24 months).
This bundle represents the biggest saving – a total of £240, if you keep it for the whole 24 months (as mentioned, you can’t ditch the broadband, but you can replace TV bundles throughout the 24 months).
The EE TV Full Works Bundle
This bundle, which includes everything, used to be called “VIP” on BT TV. But other than the new name, the bundles are identical:
- NOW Entertainment Membership, which includes Sky’s TV channels such as Sky Atlantic and Sky Max.
- NOW Cinema Membership which includes Sky’s live and on-demand movie channels
- NOW Boost which adds Full HD (1080p) and removes the adverts from on-demand content (there’s also a new Ultra Boost with 4K – but it’s not supported on EE TV yet).
- Netflix’s Standard Plan (This is the one with Full HD and NO adverts)
- All 4 TNT Sports channels
- Eurosport 1 and 2
- NOW Sky Sports (with all 11 Sky Sports channels and Sky Sports+)
- Discovery+ (Premium – which also includes the streaming versions of Eurosport and TNT Sports)
- The EE TV 4K Pro Box or the new EE-branded Apple TV box
You can now get this bundle for £25/month , but only for 3 months – then it goes up to the usual £78/month (for the rest of your 24-month contract). So it’s a total saving of £159.
The Big Entertainment bundle, which includes Netflix, NOW Entertainment and NOW Cinema (without sports), isn’t discounted at the moment, and its regular price is £30/month.
Are BT / EE TV’s Black Friday Offers Worth It?
Compared to previous years, these aren’t BT / EE TV’s best Black Friday offers. Last year, for example, the Full Works was discounted to £60/month for the whole duration – which meant a total saving of £384. And I remember the days when the Entertainment Bundle was discounted to just £10/month.
That being said, prices have gone up since then – and, at least on some of the bundles, these are the best prices we’ve seen this year from EE TV.
Let’s start with the Entertainment bundle:
Without EE, the Standard with Ads Netflix plan costs £4.99/month, and the NOW Entertainment membership costs £9.99/month if you buy it directly – so £14.98/month in total (but that’s without taking into account the fact that you can almost always find cheaper NOW deals).
And then, we also need to factor in Discovery+ Basic, which you now get as part of the EE TV bundle. If you sign up to Discovery+ directly – the Basic plan costs £3.99/month – which comes down to a total of £18.97/month.
So, at the regular EE price of £20/month, not only are you not saving money with the EE Entertainment Package – you’re paying slightly more – but you’re also getting the EE TV Pro 4K box or the Apple TV 4K Box (and those are especially useful for those who want to watch Freeview without an aerial).
A similar Freeview recorder, which also includes streaming apps, like the Humax Aura (see our review), costs around £250. So you’re basically getting an expensive recorder/streaming box at no extra cost (but you have to give it back if you leave BT / EE).
With the current Entertainment Black Friday offer, however, you’ll be paying £14/month for 21 months.
At that price, you’re certainly saving money when compared to the regular prices you’d pay Netflix, NOW and Discovery+,
But remember – you’re also signing up for BT or EE’s broadband service, which may not necessarily be the cheapest or the best in your particular situation/address.
Furthermore – you’re signing up for 24 months. I’m not a big fan of long TV contracts, and you lose the flexibility that cord cutting normally gives you, when you sign up for a Netflix/NOW package for 24 months.
However, if you were going to sign up for BT / EE broadband anyway – and you know you’ll definitely want a TV package for 24 months – then you might as well save some money, at which point this deal makes more sense.
Is The EE Sport Bundle Discount Worth It?
The Sports bundled are even harder to compare – since every pay-TV service offers it at different price points and with constantly changing deals.
The standalone Discovery+ Premium streaming subscription, which includes TNT Sports and Eurosport, costs £30.99/month.
So, at £15/month for 24 months, the EE Sport Bundle is, of course, a lot better (and you also get the EE TV Pro or the Apple TV box). But you have to sign up for 24 months.
It’s also a good price when compared to TNT Sports’ price on Sky Stream – where it’s currently priced at £28/month.
Also, Virgin Media removed TNT Sports from its traditional TV bundles earlier this year – so it now costs extra for new Virgin Media subscribers.
Then if you add Sky Sports to the mix (with the Big Sport bundle) – you can currently get Sky Sports via NOW for £26/month, if you’re willing to sign up for 6 months.
So, NOW Sky Sports and Discovery+ Premium would cost you at least £56.99/month if you get them directly – therefore, the £35/month is excellent – but, again, only if you truly need it for 24 months.