Two years after relaunching their TV service, BT TV are nearly through with the phasing out of their legacy TV service.
During the autumn and winter, BT subscribers who stuck with the legacy TV package have been gradually losing channels. So far, services from ViacomCBS, Warner Bros and UKTV have left BT TV’s legacy TV service. These included a number of channels that aren’t available on BT’s newer flexible TV packages, such as UKTV’s Alibi channel and TCM Movies.
On 17th January 2022, a number of Discovery-owned channels including Animal Planet, Discovery and TLC will be removed from the legacy TV service. Discovery was previously removed from BT’s new packages last year, when the channel was pulled from NOW (TV). BT currently does not offer direct access to Discovery+ through its TV receivers.
The phased channel removals coincide with existing carriage agreements with broadcasters coming to an end.
Instead, BT has switched to reselling Sky’s NOW television service, offering just a small selection of additional services. These include BT Sport, BoxNation, Eurosport and AMC.
BT says all of its legacy TV subscribers can change to one of their new packages. There’s no need to wait until contract renewal. BT’s new flexible packages allow viewers to change their package every month.
When BT TV revamped its service in 2020, subscribers faced a dilemma over whether to switch to a new package. While the new packages offered access to new services including Sky Atlantic, leaving the old packages meant losing other channels.