BT Sport comes to Plusnet

[#1]

Yes, you did read that right! We’re excited to announce that BT Sport will soon be available to our existing customers From 5^th November all residential Plusnet customers that also have a Sky digital Satellite receiver will be able to sign up for a package that includes BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN. There’s no activation fee to pay and there’s a minimum one month contract (which becomes a rolling contract thereafter). The package will be available for just £5.99 per month or £7.49 per month for high definition. Following on from successful trials of the service we’re delighted to be able to bring BT Sport to our residential customers. Our Commercial and Marketing Director Nick Rawlings had this to say:

“We’re really proud to be able to offer this exciting new sporting content to our loyal, existing customers. “Our phone and broadband services are recommended by Which? and we strive to be the best in the industry on customer service, but we are aware customers are looking for additional services from their telecoms provider.  We believe this is a very attractive deal for customers who want to view top sports action such as the Barclays Premier League and Aviva Premiership Rugby, especially given the exciting line-up of December football fixtures BT Sport has recently announced.”

So how do I sign up?

From 5^th November all you’ll need to do to get going is either log in to your account at our online member centre at Plus.net or if you prefer you can fill out a form at our BT Sport page.

What do I need?

As we’ve covered already you’ll need a Sky digital Satellite receiver, apart from this all you’ll need is your Sky viewing card number.

Anything else I need to know?

Once you’ve applied you should be able to start watching the channels within 48 hours of us acknowledging your order. All the content we’ve mentioned will then be available through your normal Sky TV EPG (electronic programme guide) through these channels:

• Sky Guide Channel 413/426 for BT Sport 1/HD
• Sky Guide Channel 414/427 for BT Sport 2/HD
• Sky Guide Channel 417/433 for ESPN/HD

What can I look forward to?

Apart from covering a plethora of major sporting events, BT Sport’s live football through December is set to include:

• Tottenham v Manchester United – Sunday 1^st December, 12.00pm
• Crystal Palace v West Ham United – Tuesday 3^rd December, 8pm
• Swansea City v Newcastle United – Wednesday 4^th December, 7.45pm
• Manchester United v Newcastle - Saturday 7^th December, 12.45pm
• Manchester City v Arsenal - Saturday 14^th December, 12.45pm
• Liverpool v Cardiff – Saturday 21^st December, 12.45pm
• West Ham United v Arsenal – Boxing Day, 3pm
• Manchester City v Liverpool - Boxing Day, 5.30pm
• Southampton v Chelsea – New Year’s Day, 3pm
• Manchester United v Tottenham - New Year's Day, 5.30pm

Plusnet intends to offer access to the BT Sport online player available via www.btsport.com or via the BT Sport App in 2014. In addition to offering BT Sport content, Plusnet is looking to launch YouView next year with trials set to begin before the end of 2013.

[#2]

This is fab!! Might look at joining the YouView trial

[#3]

Will existing customers be able to obtain BY sport over freebies and does the app allow you to plug in to a larger screen? Thanks Rob

[#4]

very disappointed this is only for Sky customers only. Any reason why the BTSport app/site isn't being made available now?

[#5]

Brilliant. You view on Plusnet would save me having to change suppliers. All I need now is ESPN on broadband with BT Sport and and I'm sorted. Can I be part of the "trial"

[#6]

Hi - THANKS! I am a Sky customer hand am currently paying for BTSports. Do i have to cancel that 1st and then re-apply via your link? Or can I just use your link and then will then change the lower price? Thx

[#7]

Hi - THANKS! I am a Sky customer and am currently paying for BTSports. Do I have to cancel that 1st and then re-apply via your link? Or can I just use your link and Sky will then change the lower price? Thx

[#8]

I do no have sky, only free view why is it that plus net cannot give us a BT style box so we can have a similar service. Please make it so. ..

[#9]

ONLY ON SKY >>>>>>>>WHY NOT THROUGH THE WIRES?

[#10]

Good News about BT Sport. How do we volunteer for the Youview trial?

[#11]

Great news, I can't wait for YouView.

[#12]

When you say you are going to offer youview. What does that mean? I can already get youview by buying a youview box - what will plus-net youview bring in addition?

[#13]

Great. I'm certainly interested in the YouView trial!

[#14]

Awesome! Where do I sign up?!

[#15]

Youview Trial could you please post a link. Is it a separate youview trial or one in conjunction with PN?

[#16]

As a BT sports customer I asked if as a Plusnet customer I could get a special price like BT internet customers. I was told NO which I didn't undertsand since Plusnet is owned by BT. So how do I get the lower price ? NOT HAPPY CUSTOMER

[#17]

The signup link for BT Sport should be available later this week or early next. At the moment we don't have any more information to share regarding YouView.

[#18]

@David C, yes you'd need to cancel the Sky service and then have us re-provision it for you.

[#19]

@Baz. You will have to cancel your BT Sport subscription via BT and then subscribe via Plus Net from 5 November. A bit of a faff but good news that it will be available from PlusNet and you will save money too.

[#20]

Now we know the reason for the recent price increases.

[#21]

I also signed up for BT Sport back in July and so got HD free for a year. Would I be able to keep the free HD if I cancelled my BT subscription via BT?

[#22]

Would be nice to have some comment from PLUSNET about why we can't get TV though Fibre? Or am I missing something

[#23]

Hi Ian, I believe a partial answer to your question lies in the very last line of the blog

[#24]

Hi morebarn, I'm afraid that's not something we could answer as your BT Sport deal is with BT directly, you'd need to ask them. I suspect not though.

[#25]

How long does it take Plusnet to set this up? I've cancelled by BT subscription, giving 30 days notice, but don't want any gap in the service.

[#26]

Will it work with a freesat box that has youview?

[#27]

@roger b - I believe it can do if you have a sky viewing card, yes. @LFaulkner - It's usually online within 48 hours of being ordered from us

[#28]

I'm interested in the YouView trials. Don't want Sky and am looking for a replacement to topup tv now I can't get sport via them. Cheers.

[#29]

I currently have Plusnet Broadband, and BT Sport from BT for use on a standard definition sky box. If I were to buy a Sky HD box, is it possible to get the BT Sport HD package from Plusnet for the Sky HD box, without cancelling BT Sport from BT on the standard sky box until later? i.e. for a brief time this would mean having BT Sport from BT and BT Sport from Plusnet.

[#30]

Thx Bob Pullen! Will cancel Sky now.

[#31]

Will there be a YouView Trial which plusnet customers can sign up to?

[#32]

I'd be up for a YouView trial. I find it extraordinary that up to now, we can't get TV through a VDSL connection. Anyway, considering that the Telegraph is now reporting that BT Sport will be showing Champions League football from 2015, this is a good thing!

[#33]

Why is this only available through Sky? I have a Humax freeview HD box, it already receives the BT Sport channels (scrambled) it has a viewing card slot. Would it not reach a wider Plusnet audience to offer a viewing card? I don't need/want sky tv so this offer is useless to me and I suspect a lot of people without Sky contracts. Alternatively, my father-in=law does have sky. Could I pay for the BT and have it enabled on his receiver?

[#34]

@Chris - thanks for the interest, if we do opt to go for a customer trial it'll most likely be posted in our forums. I'm afraid we've no information regarding customer trials as things stand though. @hg144 - it's the viewing card that gives you access to the BT Sport channels, and these are linked to boxes. If you got a new HD box you'd need to get a new viewing card and pair that up with the new box, but yes this could be done (I believe - it's more up to Sky than us) whilst keeping the previous box and its card running. @Michael D - we've no plans to at present I'm afraid, but should we opt to do so it'll certainly be posted about in our forums. @BlueEagle - I'm afraid not, the BT Sport account has to be at the same address as the Sky account.

[#35]

I have got BT sport through plusnet, very smooth transaction live within a day great picture in HD bargain.

[#36]

I notice that none of Matt's replies have answered the most-asked question: Why is it only available to Sky subscribers? If, as has been suggested, it is to do with the forthcoming YouView offering, can we therefore assume that this will allow BT Sport without a Sky subscription?

[#37]

@IainFK - There's nothing further we can add around that at the moment, we're not in a position to say anything more around the YouView offering which is why I'm not - as soon as we do have more information ready for public viewing we'll publish it. Sorry that's not answered your question, but I hope it's gone some way to explaining why not.

[#38]

Thanks to Matt for your reply to my question - and for your replies to the other questions. You seem to be trying to be as open as possible which is refreshing these days.

[#39]

I thought BTsport was free for BT customers with BT broadband, so why, as PlusNET is a BT company, is it not free to PlusNET broadband customers? I don't have sky and i don't want it either. I certainly don't want a satellite dish, just watch it on my PC or through a SmartTV. Come on, play the game fair instead if raising people's hopes up to dash them with stipulations and more charges 😞

[#40]

@Sean Lathey - have you asked yourself why, as PlusNET is a BT Company, is it that PlusNET's prices are not the same as BT's, or why is it that PlusNET's customer service provision is not the same as BT's?

[#41]

@Sean Lathey - Sorry you're not happy with this, unfortunately this was the only way we could offer it to interested parties so we took what chance we could. Any further developments will of course be announced. @hg144 - a pleasure, thank you Yes we do try and be as open as possible, you might find our Community forums worth a visit if you've any questions?

[#42]

Unfortunately it would appear I cant get BT Sport through my pace sky+ box. Really disappointed trying to get hold of old sky box. Wish it was available on my humax box.

[#43]

Brilliant, just found this offer this morning, was paying BT £15 per month for the package, called them up, cancelled it, now signed up with Plusnet for half the price.. BT tried to convince me to use them but they still couldn't match the whole deal i get from Plusnet for Line Rental, Broadband and now BT Sport... Well Done Plusnet..!!

[#44]

Having read this I thought it was extremely enlightening. I appreciate you finding the time and energy to put this short article together. I once again find myself spending a lot of time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was still worthwhile!

[#45]

So when can we start using the BT Sport App ? and do we need to create a BT login if we dont have one already ?

[#46]

I know this place is full of people who love sports but don't you think that there are some that would love an offer of something different to sports. Why can't some of the plusnet customers have a choice on what they want, something like a film choice or something else as its not very fair for the rest of us who pay the same amount as the sport lovers. Just saying lol.

[#47]

Pity the only way to get BT Sport from PlusNet requires a Sky box and viewing card. The main reason I'm a PlusNet customer is to keep away from Sky's clutches! BT Sport need to think up a few new delivery methods!

[#48]

Hi mojorisin, not sure I'm afraid, though we do know there's no access to the apps at present. I don't believe you need a BT login to use the service though.

[#49]

Hi lisa, not sure what you're saying as the sport lovers are paying for access to BT Sport - those who don't want it don't have to pay for it If you're on Unlimited Fibre though you might want to take a look at our TV trial? http://community.plus.net/blog/2013/12/19/plusnet-is-looking-for-existing-customers-to-trial-its-tv-service/