BT UK Hints at Plan to Launch a New WiFi Equipped TV Box UPDATE

Broadband ISP BT (EE) appears to have publicly hinted that they are developing their first WiFi equipped set-top-box (STB) for pay TV customers, which seems set to be followed by “multi-room capability” and plans for a “seamless TV” experience – both in and out of the home (i.e. via fixed line and mobile broadband).

It’s been a year since we first reported that BT were quietly developing a new WiFi equipped STB for pay TV customers (here). At that point the operator appeared to be at an advanced stage of development and our sources pointed to a possible launch in early 2020. But the first COVID-19 lockdown put pay to that idea and set development back significantly, with BT instead launching a new range of “Flexible” TV plans without the STB (here).

At present the best STB that BT TV offers is their Ultra HD (4K) equipped YouView box (Humax DTR-T4000), although like so many other PVR-capable (Personal Video Recorder) devices on the YouView+ platform it lacks WiFi and can only be connected via a wired Ethernet (LAN) cable to your broadband router. The DTR-T4000 also lacks High Dynamic Range (HDR) support (bit of an oversight since BT Sport can do HDR).

By comparison we expect the new “Wi-Fi Recordable TV box” (this is allegedly how BT refers to it as internally) to come with WiFi, HDR and Dolby Atmos sound, among other things. But so far the operator hasn’t made any solid announcements to officially confirm this.

However, BT’s consumer division recently issued a new business briefing, which among other things appears to depict a “wireless” TV STB alongside a list of various other “future” features for a “converged viewing experience“.

Exactly when all of these features will launch remains unclear, particularly given the latest COVID-19 related lockdown, although it seems unlikely to surface this year and we think late spring 2021 may be a more realistic bet.

A BT Spokesperson told ISPreview.co.uk:

“We continually look for ways to enhance the BT TV experience for our customers. We currently provide a great range of TV packages which offer access to the UK’s widest choice of the very best TV shows, films and sport available – and all with the flexibility to change packs every month.

Moving forward we have some exciting plans to develop, more innovation and features to allow customers to access the content they love, including the very latest in Set-Top-Box technology. We’re not sharing exactly when this is for now, but we’ll share this news with customers as and when we come towards launch time.”

The need for a new STB is perhaps further underlined by developments elsewhere in the market. For example, Virgin Media are preparing to launch their next generation Virgin TV 360 service, which is already in UK trials, and that looks set to arrive before Christmas (here).

Meanwhile TalkTalk’s Pay TV platform, which is currently based off a similar YouView (IPTV) solution to the one adopted by BT, appears to be moving away from their current setup. The provider’s future TV STB kit – a Technicolor UZW4054TTG using JADE – looks set to be based off the Android operating system (here).

By comparison Sky (Sky Broadband) has only recently been able to add HDR to their latest Sky Q boxes, although their plans for launching a fully broadband-based (no satellite) TV solution in the UK remain unclear. At the same time online streaming services (Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ etc.) continue to erode traditional pay TV models, while admittedly also creating greater fragmentation (i.e. the need to have several subscriptions, which can get expensive).

UPDATE 9th November 2020

According to our sources, the new TV kit seems likely to be supplied via Sagemcom and we think May 2021 is a likely date; this is when we believe BT will introduce HDR (their current Humax box would struggle to support that).