BT and EE TV are back with another deal – and this time, they’re offering TV bundles that include Sky’s NOW, Netflix, Freeview, TNT Sports and more for just £5/month, along with free months of broadband service.
Of course, there’s a catch – the £5/month is only for the first three months… but you’re still getting a discount (the biggest discount is on the Full Works bundle, which includes everything – entertainment AND sports – where it’s a total of £159 off).
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, at the moment, with the current limited-time deal, BT / EE are offering the streaming 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 £5/month (instead of the usual £20/m) – for three months – so it’s a discount of £45 over the length of your contract (24 months).
In addition to EE’s ‘Entertainment’ bundle, there’s also a similar offer on the Sport bundle, which includes TNT Sports (formerly known as BT Sport), as well as Eurosport and Discovery+ (which include the Olympics coverage) – for £5/month (instead of £20/m), again for three months (with a 24 months contract).
As mentioned, the Full Works bundle gives you the biggest savings – and the Big Sport bundle is also discounted and includes the new Sky Sports+ (see below for the full list of discounts).
The upfront setup fee has also been waived for the duration of these offers.
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) – but if you’re not with BT, you can their broadband for free, for the first three months.
So, are EE/BT’s offers any good, and how do they compare to other recent offers they had? Read ahead for my full analysis.
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 (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 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 complete 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 most 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.
EE TV September Offers
From now until September 26, 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 3 months free with some of the broadband plans (after which the price goes back up, though).
And, with some of the plans, you also get a “bonus” – a £50 Mastercard Virtual Card.
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:
- Fibre Essential (36Mb) at £29.99/month for 24 months.
- Fibre 1 (50Mb), 3 Months free, then £32.99/month
- Full Fibre 100 (150Mb), 3 Months free, then £33.99/month
- Full Fibre 500 (500Mb), 3 Months free, then £39.99/month
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 £5/month (instead of £20/month), for 3 months. After the 3 months are up the price goes back up to the usual £20/month.
Last month, we saw this price go down to £15/month for the whole 24 months – so a much bigger saving of £120 over the current £45.
Also, 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 £5/month (instead of £20/month), for 3 months. When the 3 months are up, the price goes back up to the usual £20/month.
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 £10/month, for 3 months – but after the 3 months are up, it goes back up to the usual £45/month (and you have to sign a 24-month contract).
Last month, this was offered for £5/month for 3 months – so again, the discount isn’t as impressive – but still something, especially if you’re looking to switch broadband services.
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 for 3 months, but then it goes up to the usual £78/month (for the rest of your 24-month contract).
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 EE TV’s September Offers Worth It?
Last month, we saw offers that last for the entire duration of your contract – and the discounts were higher than what we’re seeing this month.
Still, you ARE getting a discount – £45 in total on the Sports and Entertainment bundles (and more if you take into consideration the waived setup fee), £105 on the Big Sport bundle, and £159 in total on the Full Works bundle.
So, 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 summer offer, however, you’ll be paying £5/month for 3 months, and then £20/month for 21 months. The average comes down to £18.1/month (over 24 months).
So looking at the price alone, you do get a slight discount – but it’s not a huge one (but you’re also getting the streaming box).
And 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 bundle is 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 an average of £18.1/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 – so it now costs extra for new Virgin Media subscribers.
Lastly, the Full Works bundle does give a more substantial discount, so it’s worth considering IF you really need all those services (though, as mentioned, the TV offers are flexible – you can start with Full Works and downgrade at some point – but then if you want to get it back, you’ll have to pay full price).