Free BT Sport and FTA - Rugby Feast in store!

[Moiraman]

Just to note that BT Sport launches on Thursday 1st August and in the coming season it will cover live Aviva Premiership rugby with 3 matches each weekend (4 in first weekend); also Live Top 14 rugby from France and to begin with live Premiership 7's rugby. BT Sports 1/2 and ESPN are free to BT broadband customers. So with live Rabo matches on FTA and BT Sport free to those with broadband we have a feast of live rugby to come. Problem will be having too many matches to record! Sky need to introduce a box that can record 4 matches at once!!

[waggonsroll]

Is this ad paid for? I was a bit miffed, but fully understood the commercial ramifications, to receive an e-mail from Ulster Rugby pointing this out as well. As someone who uses Virgin I am not going to invest in additional expense for BT(I'm more than happy with my broadband). The sports I'm interested in are Ulster Rugby, Ulster Rugby and Ulster Rugby (with a bit of cricket thrown in. I have absolutely no interest in the grossly overpaid antics of the chav ball teams. My interest is therefore in the Heiny and Rabo. Can you get all the FTA channels (TG4, RTE, S4C etc) with BT? I know you can with SKY and Virgin you can obviously get the Heiny. With BT attempting to drive a wedge into the ERC with the English teams I for one want nothing to do with them. The proliferation of broadcasters offering different bits of sport will only result in greater expense for the fans who want to watch their team on the box.

[Jackie Brown]

Well said Wagons, something about BT vision reminds me of ITV digital or Setanta. Doubt it'll still be here in 3yrs.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[Moiraman]

Is this ad paid for? I was a bit miffed, but fully understood the commercial ramifications, to receive an e-mail from Ulster Rugby pointing this out as well. As someone who uses Virgin I am not going to invest in additional expense for BT(I'm more than happy with my broadband). The sports I'm interested in are Ulster Rugby, Ulster Rugby and Ulster Rugby (with a bit of cricket thrown in. I have absolutely no interest in the grossly overpaid antics of the chav ball teams. My interest is therefore in the Heiny and Rabo. Can you get all the FTA channels (TG4, RTE, S4C etc) with BT? I know you can with SKY and Virgin you can obviously get the Heiny. With BT attempting to drive a wedge into the ERC with the English teams I for one want nothing to do with them. The proliferation of broadcasters offering different bits of sport will only result in greater expense for the fans who want to watch their team on the box.

Take your point but with 3 sports channels being offered at no extra cost this was an offer I wasn't going to turn down. I am interested in watching rugby beyond the Rabo and HEC and being able to watch the Aviva Premiership live is a bonus. No doubt in a year's time there will be a price to pay for continuing to receive these channels but one year for free is a reasonable offer in my opinion.

[Scranner]

Well said Wagons, something about BT vision reminds me of ITV digital or Setanta. Doubt it'll still be here in 3yrs.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4 Beta

I wouldn't be too sure Jackie. Given the money that BT have to throw at it, and Sky's desire to survive, we could be looking at a carve up that will just cost the fan more money. Imagine HEC and Rabo on two separate pay to view channels.

[Moiraman]

Well said Wagons, something about BT vision reminds me of ITV digital or Setanta. Doubt it'll still be here in 3yrs.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4 Beta

I wouldn't be too sure Jackie. Given the money that BT have to throw at it, and Sky's desire to survive, we could be looking at a carve up that will just cost the fan more money. Imagine HEC and Rabo on two separate pay to view channels.

Doubt whether Rabo will go fully pay to view as this would cause consternation in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Sky probably have enough to fill their schedules without taking over the Rabo completely.

[mikerob]

Yeah, all the noises were that Sky would take a certain number of Rabo games and there would still be games for the existing broadcasters - if they paid for them. I don't think there have been deals done for these other broadcasters for 14/15 yet.

I read elsewhere that Sky would get first choice of Rabo fixtures but their cherry picking would be limited so they wouldn't be allowed both home and away legs of a particular fixture.

Does Virgin now offer all the regional channels out of region? When I had Virgin about 5 years ago, they didn't show BBC NI, BBC Wales, S4C etc. out of region, and that was a reason to move to Sky (or Freesat)

[pwrmoore]

Virgin gives the regional variations of BBC1 but not BBC2 - I don't know what's behind that

[mikerob]

Virgin gives the regional variations of BBC1 but not BBC2 - I don't know what's behind that

I thought it was technical - Sky has a lot more bandwidth available over satellite than Virgin does over cable hence Sky has a lot more channels including all of the regional channel variants. Virgin has been boosting their network bandwidth so I was wondering if they were now offering more channels. When I had Virgin 5 or 6 years ago, I'm pretty sure I couldn't get any BBC regional channels other than my home region.

I'd be surprised if BT Vision offered all the regional variants because of similar restrictions.

[tigerburnie]

I understand that BT and Virgin may be hooking up so you can get BT sport on cable.

[pwrmoore]

Virgin gives the regional variations of BBC1 but not BBC2 - I don't know what's behind that

I thought it was technical - Sky has a lot more bandwidth available over satellite than Virgin does over cable hence Sky has a lot more channels including all of the regional channel variants. Virgin has been boosting their network bandwidth so I was wondering if they were now offering more channels. When I had Virgin 5 or 6 years ago, I'm pretty sure I couldn't get any BBC regional channels other than my home region.

I'd be surprised if BT Vision offered all the regional variants because of similar restrictions.

probably right - I just didn't know if it was as simple as available bandwith or something more insidious. I've just found the inability to get BBC2W a bit annoying sometimes....

[Moiraman]

I've noticed with my connected TV I can get all BBC2 regional channels on i player including BBC2W and BBC Alba so if you're prepared to wait for action to be uploaded you can watch Rabo matches this way.

[mikerob]

BT Sport to sponsor Glasgow and Edinburgh as a way of getting around not being able to advertise BT Sport on Sky.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyu ... g-ban.html

... however given the small support there is for Glasgow and Edinburgh, I can't see this resulting in masses of people switching over to BT so they can watch the old firm games but it may mean the SRU is better disposed towards BT in the argument about HEC TV rights.

[BR]

Is the plan to scrap regional BBC2 still being considered?

[BaggyTrousers]

Just to note that BT Sport launches on Thursday 1st August and in the coming season it will cover live Aviva Premiership rugby with 3 matches each weekend (4 in first weekend); also Live Top 14 rugby from France and to begin with live Premiership 7's rugby. BT Sports 1/2 and ESPN are free to BT broadband customers. So with live Rabo matches on FTA and BT Sport free to those with broadband we have a feast of live rugby to come. Problem will be having too many matches to record! Sky need to introduce a box that can record 4 matches at once!!

I hate to abuse a man with a flock to tend, but listen here old boy, BT are the bad guys, they are in cahoots with the evil empire - premiership rugby - are in league with those who would wreck the Heineken Cup and therefore to all folk of good morals, are persona non grata.

Can I assume that so advised you will do the decent thing and join the boycott?