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BT and Sky reach wholesale agreement - Part II

BTTV Viewers to get Now TV with a plus. (November 2018)

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DV
DVB Cornwall
In December last year BT and Sky announced that from 'early' 2019 BT Sport would be wholesaled by Sky and NOW TV in HD would be offered to BT YouView customers.

In the last couple of days developments have occurred.

Firstly - the start date has slipped to the start of the 2019-20 Premier League Season.
Secondly - confirmation has been given that NOW TV will appear across the BTTV EPG and
Thirdly (the plus element) - BTTV customers will be able to record NOW TV content.

In addition I am led to understand that NOW TV programming is likely to appear in the BTTV Player too offering catch-up of sorts,

There are still questions to be answered, such as the price level of NOW TV Passes on BTTV, whether they will be transportable across to other NOW TV devices and platforms, i.e. that a BT pass could be used on Roku or Apple TV. In addition we'll need to know what the HD supplement will cost, The Italian NOW TV offering requires a small 2.99 EUR/month supplementary fee for HD. The thorny issue of the Red Button is no clearer either.

I also feel that Sky's own statement in January of this year that NOW TV would be offered in HD later this year is also likely to slip too.
FA
fanoftv
Would it mean that now tv channels, for example sky entertainment channels will appear on BTTV or would you need an additional nowtv subscription?
BR
Brekkie
Nothing then about BT appearing on Now TV - indeed I don't think BT Sport has a TV app on any platform which IMO is a missed opportunity.
DV
DVB Cornwall
Nothing then about BT appearing on Now TV - indeed I don't think BT Sport has a TV app on any platform which IMO is a missed opportunity.


BT does have apps across Apple and Android, albeit walled to their own customers currently. The Apple TV one is superb and uses the iOS stream sources. Since installing the Apple TV one I choose to watch HD BT Sport via Apple TV now, using the YV box for 4K and HD material on the Extra Channels only.
DO
dosxuk
There's also a BT Sport app for Windows which isn't as full featured as the mobile ones but is quite usable.
RD
rdd Founding member
It’s also been announced that Sky will be able to wholesale BT Sport (exclusively) in Ireland.

I am convinced this was always part of the deal, as it is the only explanation as for why the deal had such a long lead in period (announced in 2017, not taking effect until 2019). BT is tied to eir until 31st July 2019. It’s the only contractual arrangement either party was tied to that would necessitate such a long delay.
UK
UKnews
rdd posted:
I am convinced this was always part of the deal, as it is the only explanation as for why the deal had such a long lead in period (announced in 2017, not taking effect until 2019). BT is tied to eir until 31st July 2019. It’s the only contractual arrangement either party was tied to that would necessitate such a long delay.

I doubt this is the case, it’s unlikely an issue that affected Ireland only would hold up the whole deal. They may have already agreed this part but could only announce it now, or when they got back together to announce it they were able to expand other parts of the deal. System and other issues are more likely to be the reason for the gap between the announcement and it being available.


Most likely August 2019 is a sensible time to start because that is when the new Premier Legaue rights kick in, giving each of them the perfect way to market the new offerings.
LL
Larry the Loafer
Am I right to assume the wholesale deal to Sky isn't necessarily the same sort of wholesale deal that Virgin got where they offer BT Sport for free to XL customers?
AJ
AJ
Am I right to assume the wholesale deal to Sky isn't necessarily the same sort of wholesale deal that Virgin got where they offer BT Sport for free to XL customers?


Correct. There's a lot more to it.

64 days later

DV
DVB Cornwall
I suspect that the very early stages of the work for this has started in the last couple of days. There's been a minor yet significant EPG change on BTTV (Moving up the HD equivalents of the Extra Sports Channels in the list) which has opened a block of Sixteen channels in the Sport Genre range into which the HD versions of the Sky Sports Channels could fall neatly.
Last edited by DVB Cornwall on 4 January 2019 10:59pm
BR
Brekkie
I thought they were being allowed to offer Sky Sports via Now TV (so as an app) rather than as channels in the EPG.
DV
DVB Cornwall
No ... Seamless within the EPG ... Has to be for recording purposes.

BT customers will be able to watch the Sky content seamlessly as an integrated part of the BT TV platform.

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/BT.A/13466571.html

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