BT TV and Plusnet TV are completing a second round of channel removals this week. Subscribers were first notified of the changes over the winter.
Some BT TV and all Plusnet TV viewers will lose access to SyFy and E! from their TV packages from the beginning of April. At the same time, recordings from channels removed at the beginning of March, including Lifetime, Sky History, Sky History 2 and Crime + Investigation will be lost. Recordings of programmes from SyFy and E! will continue to be available for a month.
But BT TV customers with a subscription to BT’s new TV package based on Sky’s Now (TV) service will continue to receive SyFy and Sky History through Now. It’s part of a phasing out of BT’s Classic Entertainment package in favour of its revamped TV service, first launched early last year. Channels are delivered through the YouView TV platform via the customer’s broadband internet connection.
There is no alternative option offered by Plusnet, who have announced they are retiring their TV service to new customers, but maintaining a service with fewer channels for existing customers.
Lifetime was closed by operator AETN across all platforms on 1st March. The other changes are a result of ownership changes since BT and Plusnet’s original carriage deals were signed. Sky History and Sky History 2 are operated in a joint venture between AETN and Sky. SyFy and E! also now belong to the same company as Sky.