EE TV, the pay-TV service offered to BT and EE broadband customers, has cut the price of almost all of its TV bundles – for a limited time.
These bundles include Freeview channels via broadband (or an aerial), Netflix, Sports (Sky Sports via NOW, TNT Sports / Eurosport, or all of them), Sky’s entertainment channels, and more – all depending on the bundle you choose.
Late last year, BT transformed its TV service to EE TV (EE is also owned by BT); therefore, 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, with its 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 £15/month (instead of the usual £20/m) – for the whole duration of the contract – so that’s 24 months.
In addition to BT’s ‘Entertainment’ bundle, there’s also an 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 £16/month (instead of £20/m) for 24 months.
If you want even more – the Big Sport and Full Works (which includes everything) plans, are also offered with major discounts (see the complete list below).
The upfront setup fee has also been waived for the duration of these offers.
As always, there are a few caveats – for example, while the discount is set for 24 months, 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).
So, are EE/BT’s offers any good, and how do they compare to other recent offers from the competition? 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 will look quite familiar – as they’re almost identical to BT TV’s old bundles and prices.
As before, EE TV’s bundles are “flexible” – which means you can switch between them during your contract (and move 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.
The new EE TV 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 and more, as well as all the standard catch-up streaming apps – BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4, My5, S4C, STV Player and BBC Sounds.
Also, this week EE finally launched a YouTube app on on its 4K Pro Box (and its mini version).
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 does include 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.
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 Summer Offers
From now until August 8, 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.
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 Basic Plan – This plan lets you watch on one device at a time, with 720p picture quality. Note that this isn’t Netflix’s Standard with Ads tier – so you won’t see adverts (at least for now – but that may change in the future).
- Discovery+ (The ‘Basic’ tier only, which includes lifestyle, factual, and reality shows – without sports)
- The BT 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 £15/month (instead of £20/month), for the entire duration of your contract – 24 months.
Last year, we’ve seen this price go down to £12/month and even £10/month – but who knows whether it’ll go down that low ever gain.
Also, remember that 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 (Which include the Olympics coverage)
- Discovery+ (Premium – which also includes the streaming versions of Eurosport and TNT Sports)
- The BT TV 4K Pro Box or the new EE-branded Apple TV box
You can now get this package for £16/month (instead of £20/month), for the entire duration of your contract – 24 months.
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 upcoming Sky Sports+)
- Discovery+ (Premium – which also includes the streaming versions of Eurosport and TNT Sports)
- The BT TV 4K Pro Box or the new EE-branded Apple TV box
You can now get this bundle for £5/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).
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.
- Netflix’s Standard Plan (Not the Basic one! 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)
- Discovery+ (Premium – which also includes the streaming versions of Eurosport and TNT Sports)
- The BT 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 Summer Offers Worth It?
Some of these discounts are attractive because they last for the whole duration of your contract – though, of course, that also means you’re locked in with BT /EE for 24 months.
The Big Sport and Full Works bundles, however, are only discounted for 3 months – which sounds worse, but you’re actually getting a similar discount (£159 in total on Full Works, and £120 in total on Big Sports), it’s just divided differently.
We have, however, seen bigger discounts from EE TV in the past – especially on the Full Works bundle.
So let’s start with the Entertainment bundle:
Without BT, the Basic Netflix plan used to cost £7.99/month, and the NOW Entertainment membership costs £9.99/month if you buy it directly – so £17.98/month in total (but that’s without taking into account the fact that you can almost always find cheaper NOW deals).
However, Netflix discontinued its Basic plan as a standalone offer – even though you can still get it as part of EE’s plans for now (mainly because EE’s Pro box doesn’t support Netflix’s ad-supported plan, for now). Therefore, a direct comparison is a bit tricky.
If you’re willing to watch adverts though – Netflix has a cheaper plan, the Standard with Adverts plan – which costs £4.99/month – so £14.98/month in total.
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.
Plus, this month, Discovery+ is offering its Standard plan – which includes sports – for the same £3.99/month as well.
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 getting Netflix’s ad-free tier, and you’re getting the BT 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 £15/month for 24 months. So looking at the price alone, it’s a decent deal, as you’re getting a real discount (but it’s not a huge difference).
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 bundle is even harder to compare – since every pay-TV service offers it at different price points and with constantly changing deals.
If you look at the standalone Discovery+ Premium streaming subscription, which includes TNT Sports and Eurosport – it costs £30.99/month.
So at £16/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.