All to play for: Sky and BT battle it out to win over sports fans for the big live games. Photograph: Phil Noble/REUTERS
Until recently, the viewing choice for big sports fans was relatively limited. You simply signed up for Sky Sports and settled down in a comfy chair for the season. But the arrival this week of BT Sport's two channels ? the first broadcasts were on Thursday ? has thrown that into some disarray.
BT has spent ?736m for the right to broadcast Premier League games, and has captured exclusive coverage of the Premiership rugby season.
The telecoms firm says its sports service is "free" for its broadband customers, but in reality many will be forking out at least ?5 a month to access the service.
What's on offer?
BT reckons its big draw is the 38 Premier League live football matches it has exclusive rights to over the coming season, compared to the 115 matches Sky will be screening. But are you aware that most of the BT games are being shown at 12.45pm on a Saturday? Lunchtime is not exactly peak viewing time except for all but the most committed. BT says it will be offering some weekday evening matches later in the season, but no matches during peak weekend early evenings when big audiences tune in.
Perhaps more attractive ? to rugby fans, at least ? is its coverage of Aviva Premiership Rugby. BT Sport will show exclusive live coverage of up to 69 matches a season for the next four years, plus a host of other action.
What's the deal ? for new and existing BT customers?
BT says anyone who takes its broadband service can access BT Sport for nothing over a computer, iPad or phone, but may need to pay ?5 a month to watch on a standard television set. BT's basic broadband costs ?10 a month, or you can pay ?15 for capped usage on its superfast Infinity (fibre) broadband or ?26 a month for unlimited usage. On top of this is a line rental charge of ?15.45.
To get the sport channels on your TV you have to commit to a 12-month contract, or have at least 12 months remaining on your existing contract.
Users can watch the BT Sport channels in one of four ways:
? The easiest and cheapest is on an iPad or other tablet or PC via the BT Sport app, although most will want to be able to watch on an actual TV set. For reasons unexplained the app service is not available to internet-connected smart TVs.
? BT broadband customers who are also Sky TV customers, with a set-top box and Skyviewing card, can register the card and watch for nothing via the Sky platform. If they want BT sport in high definition it will cost ?3 a month.
? Those outside BT's Infinity (fast broadband) area need a Vision+ set-top box. This has a ?49 activation fee if you sign up to BT TV, plus a ?5 monthly payment, or can be bought outright for ?199 with no ongoing charge. The BT Sport signal comes via your digital aerial in the same way as Freeview.
Those in non-urban areas, whose broadband speed is less than 2.2Mbps, won't be able to access the on-demand services, which come via broadband.
? Customers who are in an Infinity-served area have to take the more expensive fibre broadband if they want BT Sport via BT TV. They can also opt for the all-singing, all-dancing YouView digital box which delivers the TV signal via the broadband connection.
This box offers a host of other TV services, such as on-demand. If you buy it outright it costs ?299, otherwise again it has a ?49 connection fee and ?5-a-month payment.
Rather strangely, BT customers with the older Vision+ box can add the Sky Sports 1 and 2 channels for ?20 a month, but only if they have the Infinity broadband. Those with the YouView box can't, although they do get access to ESPN sports channel.
I am a Sky TV customer. Can I access BT Sport games cheaply?
If you're not (and don't want to become) a BT broadband customer, you simply have to pay extra if you want to also access BT Sport's two channels. This will cost ?12 a month, or ?15 if you want HD. Contact BT, hand over your card details and the channels will magically appear on your Sky box.
How about Virgin and TalkTalk TV customers?
Virgin says it is looking at adding BT Sport to its packages, but had no deal in place at the time of writing. TalkTalk, which gives its customers access to all of Sky's six sports channels for ?30 a month on a pay-as-you-go basis, says it is not currently looking at offering the BT channels. That might change in the future if BT grabs more exclusive sports rights.
Is it worth switching, and what are the downsides?
BT is hoping that its sports offering will be enough to tempt people away from Sky, but the only group we can see that would be likely to switch will be hardcore rugby fans. So far 500,000 customers, who mostly already have BT broadband, have signed up.
Is the deal worth switching broadband and home phone provider?
Probably not. Money has recently received many complaints from readers who have tried to get BT phone lines fixed or installed over the past few months.
Switching your service to BT might go without a hitch, but it could also be problematic. BT says it has taken on new call centre staff and engineers to cope with the demand it expects ? however, it won't go down well if you leave the rest of family without internet access for a few weeks in your attempts to gain some football coverage.
There are also increasing tales of problems with BT Infinity, with lots of customers reporting a loss of download speed after a few weeks of it being installed ? something to consider.
Critics have already suggested that BT would have been better to spend the money on sorting out customer service rather than on football rights.
What are the other options?
There's no need to do anything if you are happy listening to live games on the radio and watching Match of the Day highlights on a Saturday night. Trips to the pub for the big games are an option.
Alternatively, Sky's Now TV allows you to buy a one-day Sky Sports pass for ?9.99. If there are only a few games a season you "have" to watch live, this is the way to go.
Sky has also just launched a very basic box that will allow people to stream Sky Sports and Sky Movies channels on-demand to their TV, without a standard subscription, for just ?9.99 ? and you can then buy the bits of the service you want on a pay-as-you-go basis.
? See if you can save money on your TV and broadband bills with the Guardian
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/aug/02/bt-sky-sports-tv-football-coverage
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