FREE BT Sport TV Service Goes LIVE Today for Broadband Customers

As expected BT’s consumer ISP division has today made its new BTSport TV service available to their customers, which among other things will be showing 38 live Barclays Premier League football and 69 live Aviva Premiership rugby matches. It’s also being offered for free alongside their various home broadband and phone packages.

The service consists of several TV channels including BTSport 1, BTSport 2 and ESPN. BT’s standard broadband or superfast BTInfinity (FTTC) customers can watch the service for free by using the ISPs special video streaming / online player app via your Desktop, Smartphone or Tablet computer. It’s also available via the related BT TV product(s).

John Petter, MD of BT Retail Consumer, said:

“It’s finally a reality that ‘Great sport happens here’. It’s just over a year since we secured our Barclays Premier League rights and only six months since we started to build our exciting new studio in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. We have some tremendously talented presenters and experts who are passionate about sport.

The customers are the ones that matter and now they will be able to see the programmes for themselves. We‘re convinced they’re going to like what they see, and we’re absolutely committed to making BT Sport fun, innovative and a firm favourite with the fans.”

It should be noted that the channels will also have an HD video quality counterpart but this will not be available to everybody for free. Customers who take BTInfinity with BT’s TV service will have the option of receiving the Sport channels in HD for just £3 per month (HD upgrade price), a cost that has been waived for those who joined BT before 1st August (note: the HD service is only free for the first year).

Meanwhile non-BT broadband customers, such as those with a Sky TV service, will have to pay £12 a month to receive BT Sport via Sky’s platform (it can be free on Sky too but only if you have BT Broadband). Sadly Virgin Media hasn’t been able to reach a similar deal for the content but they’re still talking (here).

Non-BT TV customers who own a standard retail YouView box will also be able to access the BTSport service via their set-top-box, although this will cost at least £5 a month (the cost of a basic BT TV subscription). Naturally if you have a BT Broadband subscription then it’s cheaper to just use their free online player instead.

Take note that new customers who want BT Broadband will generally also need to take BT’s line rental service too, which costs £15.45 a month or £141 when paid annually (equivalent to £11.75 a month).

UPDATE:

BT has added that, to help kick things off, BTSport will also be free for all to see on the first day for anyone with Freeview, TV from BT or Sky.