EE UK Replaces Home Broadband Pay TV Service with Apple TV 4K
Mobile operator and ISP EE will today replace their ageing bespoke Pay TV (IPTV) product, which was only available alongside their fixed line home broadband and phone packages, with a new service powered by an Apple TV 4K set-top-box, but it won’t be a particularly cheap add-on.
The original EE TV product was developed (bespoke) and launched prior to the merger with BT (they have their own separate YouView powered platform). Under the old platform customers of EE’s Broadband service were asked to pay an extra £8 a month to receive the box, which gave them access to all of the usual Freeview TV channels, PVR features, an app and access to premium on-demand content. Sadly EE TV has since been largely forgotten and doesn’t support 4K.
Last year we reported that BT had entered into early discussions with Apple about the prospect of replacing EE TV with a service based off the 32GB Apple TV 4K box (here). As if to confuse matters it was, at the time, already possible for existing EE mobile customers to add Apple’s box to their plan (albeit without any EE specific content or features) but this option has since been removed; probably due to today’s announcement.
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By comparison today’s announcement means that existing EE broadband customers (pay monthly mobile subscribers with with a Smartphone or 12/24-month SIM-only plan can also take advantage) will be able to add the Apple TV 4K box to their package for an extra £15 per month, which is a fair bit more expensive than the old EE TV option (probably because Apple’s box is worth around £179 at retail).
The prices we’ve been given for this are below, which appears to be reflecting the discounted first contract term (18 month) prices (e.g. the ADSL broadband and phone package alone rises from £22 to £32 after the first 18 months).
| EE Broadband | Broadband + Apple TV 4K | |
| ADSL (10Mbps) |
£22 | £37 (£42 after first 18 months) |
| Fibre (36Mbps) | £28 | £43 (£47 after first 18 months) |
| Fibre Plus (67Mbps) | £32 | £47 (£52 after first 18 months) |
| Fibre Max 1 (145Mbps G.fast) |
£42 | £57 (£59 after first 18 months) |
| Fibre Max 2 (300Mbps G.fast) |
£50 | £63 (£64 after first 18 months) |
According to the limited promotional material that we’ve seen, the Apple TV 4K gives you access to a range of entertainment apps like BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, UK TV, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and NOW TV. Inclusive access to BT Sport TV content is also included “so you can watch unmissable live sport” and with a supporting TV you can also experience 4K HDR and cinematic Dolby Atmos sound.
The Apple TV 4K itself features a HDMI 2.0a port, 802.11ac WiFi, 1 x Gigabit LAN port, Bluetooth v5, IR receiver and is powered by an A10X Fusion chip. Sadly it does not appear to support Freeview TV channels like the old device. You also get access to an Apple TV app and Siri (voice assistant).
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Marc Allera, CEO of BT Consumer, said:
“We’re giving customers the TV, film and sport they love in the best quality on Apple TV 4K. By combining Apple TV 4K and BT Sport with EE’s award-winning unlimited home broadband, we’re able to provide our customers with a premium TV service that not only provides great value for money, but a great experience at home, as well as on the go.”
At the time of writing EE still seemed to be in the process of updating their website for the new kit, which should be completed sometime later this morning.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Channel 4 has recently launched their Apple TV app, so they are available as well.
If you really want Freeview via your AppleTV you can use HDHomeRun hardware (a networked DVB-T receiver). It costs £90 though.
This would have been great but I have just (28 days) resigned with BT and lost BT Sport as it was no longer bundled with Broadband. Wonder if BT will offer this too as an add on or whether I can jump ship given they are part of the same group?
Aside from BT Sport, what does the service offer beyond what a half decent smart TV does these days?
I’m struggling to see the long term USP of these boxes, especially at that price. YouView doesn’t appear to have been the game-changer that was first touted back in ‘Project Canvas’ days. Content is always king – does this really have appeal these days?
I suppose a positive is the portability.
positives:
* No Tracking
* Better performance (fast CPU and GPU)
* Better interface
* Long-term support and software updates.
On the negatives, I can only think of the fact that Apple maintains a very tight grip on you once you’re in their ecosystem. This is for example, why I avoid buying movies on itunes — it only works on Apple devices, whereas if you buy from Amazon, Google, Rakuten etc, it works everywhere.
It will support Apple TV+ if anyone is interested in that everybody seems to be getting behind Apple TV now unlike Youview. In fairness to lack of freeview i think all of the major tv channels have catchup apps in Apple TV now so shouldn’t be a major issue
Mark
Is this really correct in that the price goes down by £1 after the first 18 months for the 300Mbps G.fast TV & internet version?
“Fibre Max 2 (300Mbps G.fast) £50 £65 (£64 after first 18 months)”
The legal text on that offer says: “Fibre Max 2 Broadband and Apple TV 4K with BT Sport: £65 a month, £64 a month from month 19.” I’d agree, it seems wrong.
Confusingly if I run a test in their ordering system it comes back as “£63 a month for 18 months, then £64 a month.” So I think they’ve got something wrong somewhere. We’ve been given conflicting details.
I’m going to use the £63 figure for now as that’s what the ordering system gives.
I don’t get where you get the free view channels from then? They’ve gotten rid of their box that gives you the free to air channels. Okay you can get Tv player but it’s awful. So I guess you’re limited to BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5 then?
You could just watch the freeview channels on your normal tv lol.
@matt if you’re able to get the signals. A lot of people who live in flats can’t.
Is there any reason why if you want ondemand content i or anyone should buy this over a android box or similar below £80 device (IE half the price) for things like iplayer?