BT is back with another major discount on two of its TV bundles. The Entertainment bundle, which includes several popular streaming services and channels as well as a 4K Freeview box, is currently half-price for the first 12 months.
In addition, the offer is also available for the Sport bundle, which includes all of BT Sports, as well as Eurosport and Discovery+, so you can get the bundle for half price for the first 12 months.
As always, there’s an important caveat – after the initial 12 months, the price will go back up from £10/month to the regular cost of these bundles, for 12 more months – as you have to sign a 24-month contract (see my full pricing comparison below).
These deals come shortly after BT increased the costs of its TV packages again, but since there’s a different new deal every month, the full price is almost meaningless at this point (but you do start paying it once the discounted months are up).
BT’s Entertainment Package offers the “Basic” Netflix subscription, Sky’s NOW Entertainment membership, the AMC Channel and the 4K Pro box – and it normally costs £20/month.
The Sport bundle doesn’t include Netflix or NOW, but includes all 4 BT Sport channels (soon to become TNT Sports), along with Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2, the AMC Channel and the BT TV 4K Pro Box, and it normally costs £18/month.
The BT TV Box Pro, which you get as a part of this bundle (as a loan – you don’t own the box), was upgraded last year with a new ‘Internet Mode’ – which lets you watch some Freeview channels without an aerial.
All in all, these new offers represent a savings of £120 for the Entertainment bundle over the 24 months, and £96 on the Sport bundle (and more, if you take into consideration the setup fee – which has been waived).
As always, these offers are only relevant for those who get BT’s Broadband service – but they’re good for either new or existing broadband customers (who don’t have a TV contract yet).
For those who are also new to BT’s broadband – there are additional offers and discounts, including a virtual rewards card of up to £100 – but I’m focusing on the TV part – so let’s take a closer look…
BT’s TV Platform Explained
BT started bundling Netflix into its TV packages in 2021, shortly after launching its 4K BT TV Box Pro box.
The 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 BT TV Box Pro also supports quite a few streaming apps – Netflix, Amazon’s Prime Video, NOW, BT Sport, BT Player, Milkshake and more, as well as all the standard catch-up streaming apps – BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel4 (formerly All4), My5, UKTV Play, S4C, STV Player and BBC Sounds.
Curiously, however, even though BT Sport subscribers now get Discovery+ for free – BT’s own box doesn’t support the Discovery+ app – for now, at least.
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.
If you want to watch in additional rooms – BT also offers the BT TV Mini Box, which includes streaming apps and the ability to stream Freeview channels via broadband.
But the Mini box doesn’t have any recording capabilities.
BT’s “Flexible” TV packages are attached to BT’s broadband plans (you can’t get BT TV on its own, except for BT Sport, which is also available as a monthly pass and on Sky and Virgin Media).
In a couple of months, BT Sport is set to transform into “TNT Sports”, and at that point, its monthly pass will get folded into Discovery+, but that shouldn’t affect those who subscribe to BT Sport (then TNT Sports) via BT TV.
BT TV’s packages, along with BT’s broadband, come with a 24-months contract – so in practice, they’re not very “flexible” – not as flexible as standard streaming services, at least.
The flexible part comes from being able to change your TV package every 30 days – switch from Entertainment to Sports, cancel one and add another, or just get the VIP package which includes everything (but you can’t cancel the TV contract completely until your contract is up).
However, if you switch from the Netflix and NOW package, or the Sport bundle, you will most likely not be able to get it back at the current £10/month price point – so be careful if you choose to do that before the initial, discounted 12 months are up.
In addition to seamlessly switching between packages, customers can also attach stand-alone add-ons to their packages – such as Sky’s NOW streaming plans, Amazon’s Prime Video, and more – or upgrade to Netflix’s higher tiers (to get 4K content, for example).
BT TV’s £10 Offers
From now until May 26, you can get two of BT TV’s bundles – Entertainment and Sport – at £10/month each, for the first 12 months of your contract (after which, they will go back up to the regular price for the remaining 12 months).
The Entertainment bundle is available for existing BT customers as an add-on, or for new customers who sign up for BT’s broadband. It includes:
- 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 Basic with Ads tier – so you won’t see adverts.
- The AMC Channel, which is exclusive to BT TV and includes American shows and films.
- The BT TV 4K Pro Box (which lets you watch Freeview over broadband)
You can now get this package for £10/month for 12 months, and then it will go back up to £20/months, for 12 more months.
The Sport package doesn’t include any of the entertainment streaming services, but it does include:
- All 4 BT Sport channels
- The AMC Channel
- Discovery+ (which includes Eurosport)
You can now get this package for £10/month for 12 months, and then it will go back up to £18/months, for 12 more months.
There are additional BT TV content packages – like Big Entertainment (which includes Sky Cinema) and VIP (which includes everything) – but those aren’t currently discounted.
It’s important to note that these prices are likely to go up in March 2024, along with the CPI rate of inflation, as they do every year – even if you’re still under contract.
Is The BT TV £10/Month Deal Worth It?
Last month, BT offered a similar deal where the same bundles were available for just £1/month – for the first 6 months. In total, that came down to £366 for the Entertainment Bundle over 24 months, and £330 for the Sports Bundle.
This time around, over the full 24 months, you’re paying £360 (instead of £480) for the Entertainment Bundle, and £336 (instead of £432) for the Sports Bundle.
Therefore, the Entertainment offer is slightly better this time around – and the Sports bundle is slightly worse. And that’s without mentioning (OK, I mentioned it) BT’s deal back in February – when they offered the Entertainment bundle for £10/month for the whole duration…
But there’s no point in crying over spilt deals – and let’s check how these prices compare to subscribing to these channels and streaming services directly.
Let’s start with the Entertainment bundle:
Without BT, the Basic Netflix plan normally costs £6.99/month, and the NOW Entertainment membership costs £9.99/month if you buy it directly – so £16.98/month in total (and that’s without taking into account the fact that you can almost always find cheaper NOW deals).
Furthermore, Netflix recently launched its ad-supported tier, which costs £4.99/month – so if you’re willing to watch adverts, you’ll pay even less.
So, at the regular BT price of £20/month, not only are you not saving money with the BT Entertainment Package – you’re actually paying more, unless you take into account the BT TV Pro 4K box.
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).
With the current offer, however, you’ll be paying £15/month on average, if we look at the full 24 months (that’s before any inflation price increases).
So looking at the price alone, you ARE getting a discount (and the BT TV Box) – though it’s pretty minimal (but, as always, over 24 months Netflix and NOW’s prices are likely to go up as well).
AND… don’t forget you’re also signing up for BT’s broadband service, which may not necessarily be the cheapest or the best option in your particular situation/address – even if there’s a tempting broadband offer at the moment.
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’s 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.
Things are a bit different with the Sport bundle. It’s hard to compare BT Sport’s prices, because every pay-TV service offers it at different price points and with constantly changing deals (and especially with the unknown price changes that the upcoming transformation into TNT Sports may bring).
If you look at the standalone BT Sport Monthly Pass streaming subscription – it now costs £29.99/month – so obviously, if you’re a BT Sport fan, getting it for £14/month (across the whole period), along with Discovery+ and Eurosport, is a great deal.
But, again – this means signing up for BT’s broadband and its TV service for 24 months – so it’s only a good deal if you’re willing to lose some flexibility, as who knows what the future will bring – in terms of pricing, and your own financial situation.