A Guide to BT Vision

What You Need to Know

BT Vision is only available to BT broadband customers.
BT Vision provides a range of features including 70 Freeview channels, programmes on demand and the ability to record, pause and rewind live TV.
The ‘Essential’ package costs £4 a month whilst, the ‘Unlimited’ package, which includes ESPN and free on demand TV, costs £12.50 a month.
Sky Sports channels can be added to either package for an extra charge.
You can install BT Vision yourself by plugging the Vision+ box into your TV and homehub.
You may want to consider getting BT Vision in a ‘bundle’ along with your broadband and phone calls, as it could work out cheaper.
BT Vision is a subscription service and you will be tied to a contract for at least 12 months.

What Is BT Vision?

BT Vision is a digital TV subscription package available exclusively to BT’s broadband customers.

BT Vision gives users;

70 Freeview TV channels and radio stations, including those broadcast in HD.
Access to a range of over 5,500 demand programmes that can be watched anytime, including 3D movies.
7 of Vision’s own on demand channels.
A Free Vision+ box, which can record and store programmes from the TV guide, as well as pause and rewind live TV.
The option to add sports channels such as Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 2 and ESPN to their package.

What Do I Need to Get BT Vision?

You have to be a BT broadband customer in order to receive BT Vision, as the service depends on their phone lines and having a BT Home Hub. (Your line must have a speed of a least 2Mb.)

In addition, you will need to have a TV aerial and your ability to receive certain channels will depend on the digital reception in your area.

If you want to watch programmes in either HD or 3D you will need a TV set that is ready to show footage broadcast in that format. (Your TV will have a HD or 3D logo on it if this is the case.)

Features

Here’s a run down of the many features that come with a BT Vision subscription;

Freeview

You can receive 70 channels through Freeview, however, you should check how many of those channels are available in your area. You can this check your coverage using this tool.

Channels available include all of the BBC and ITV channels, as well as 4’s other channels, E4, More 4 and Film 4. Comedy broadcaster Dave is also included, as are various news channels, specialist shopping channels and dedicated children's channels.

Catch Up TV

Vision Replay allows you to catch up with programmes broadcast over the last seven days on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, Whilst Iplayer gives you access to a huge range of programmes from all of BBC’s channels and even allows you to view whole series.

On Demand Packs

BT Vision gives users access to seven different on demand packs that allow you to watch programmes whenever you want;

Vision TV

Includes the best drama, comedy, reality and documentary programmes from Freeview’s channels. You can even watch episodes of entire series back to back, like a DVD box set.

Vision Film Club

Features over 75 movies a month from some of the biggest studios in the world.

Vision Kids

Includes all your kids favourite shows from Disney, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon.

Vision Sport

Includes archive footage of big sporting events, such as The Masters and Wimbledon, as well as weekly sporting round ups.

Vision Music

Includes the best current music videos, as well as classics from the forty years, live concert footage, karaoke and specially tailored playlists.

Vision Box Office

Features over 600 major titles, from box office smashes to timeless classics. You even watch films in HD and 3D.

Vision Adult

3 hour rentals are available from a range of channels at £3.20 each, with discreet, pin protected ordering and billing.

Vision+ Box

Your set top box allows you to flick though your TV guide select your favourite programmes and record them, meaning you never need to miss your favourite shows. In fact, you can set the box to record a whole series, so you don’t even need to remember to set it to record each week.

You can also pause and rewind live TV, perfect for when you receive a vital phone call just at the wrong moment.

Recorded programmes can also be paused, rewound and even fast forwarded, allowing to skip the adverts and get straight to best bits.

Choosing a Package

There are two BT Vision packages to choose from, ‘Essential’ and ‘Unlimited’. ‘Essential’ can be added to an existing broadband package for just £4 a month, whereas ‘Unlimited’ costs £12.50 a month.

There are only two real differences between the packages. With ‘Unlimited’ ESPN is included and programmes from 5 of Vision’s 7 on demand packs can be watched for free, where as with the ‘Essential’ package these programmes cost between 50p to £3.20 per show.

In both cases Sky Sports 1 and 2 can be added at a cost of £12.30 for one channel or £17.40 for both.

Both packages require a 12 month contract.

Check that you can receive Sky Sports and ESPN in your area before buying and be aware that you need to buy a viewing card for your box in order to view them. This costs £10.

For both packages there is a £30 activation fee.

You can use the below table to compare the two packages;

	Essential	Unlimited
Vision+ box	Included	Included
Freeview	Included	Included
Contract	12 Months	12 Months
ESPN	Not Available	Included
Sky Sports	One Channel for 12.30, Two for £17.40	One Channel for 12.30, Two for £17.40
Catch Up TV	Vision Replay, BBC Iplayer	Vision Replay, BBC Iplayer
Vision TV	From £1.10 a show	Included
Vision Film Club	Not available	Included
Vision Kids	From 50p a show	Included
Vision Sport	From 50p a show	Included
Vision Film Muisc	From 50p a show	Included
Vision Box Office	From £2.50 a film	From £2.50 a film
Vision Adult	From £3.20 per show	From £3.20 per show

Bundles

As getting BT Vision requires you to already be a BT broadband customer you will already be receiving your TV and internet through BT and there’s a good chance you’ll get your phone services through them to.

Depending on how much or each of those 3 components you use it may well be worth taking a ‘bundle’ deal whereby you can save money by taking all of the above utilities in a single deal. You can explore the different BT bundles available here.

Installation

Installation is a simple process that you can perform yourself by following the instructions in this video . Alternatively, you can pay for a BT engineer to do it for you.