BT Vision

This is something that has me fuming - when we first moved back to the UK we got Sky, and I used to enjoy being able to watch Football First. If the Everton match was live on Sky, I'd go to the local to watch it, but if it wasn't I'd wait until the evening, without knowing the score, and watch it "as live".

Partly due to a staff discount, we switched to BT Vision and they have had an even better way to watch Premiership games - from 10pm you can watch the *full match* of any Premiership game that wasn't shown live on Sky.

I was on a stag last weekend so today is my first match of the season. I've just double checked to make sure it'll be on an I'm met with a screen saying that On Demand Premier League highlights/full match are no longer available on BT Vision.

I assumed this is part of the tie up with Sky Sports, and an effort to force BT Vision customers to shell out the extra money to buy the Sky Sports 1 or Sky Sports 2 channels. However I've just spent half an hour on the phone speaking to a variety of people, and evidently the interactive red button for Sky does not work through BT Vision. Therefore if you buy the Sky Sports 2 channel you cannot watch Football First.

In summary, I have today learnt that the sole reason for me subscribing to BT Vision has been taken away, and there is now no way to watch Premier League highlights. I was under the impression that regulators had forced Sky Sports to offer their channels to BT, and that this was an increase in options to BT customers. In fact, it's a drastic reduction.

Comments

[Quinn]

Quick question; is your gripe with BT or with the regulator?

[aje]

I don't know enough about what's gone on behind the scenes. My gripe is purely aimed at BT Vision. I was under the impression that the regulator had forced Sky to offer it's coverage at a subsidised rate to BT Vision customers, and although I would clearly benefit from this I was opposed. It now seems that carrying Premier League on demand is a completely separate service, and that BT lost the rights this season and failed to bid again. My assumption is that they believed the regulators doing them a favour would boost their sales and that their customers would now have less demand for the on demand stuff. This seems to be a massive error, as I'm sure I'm not the only one who's going to switch to Sky. It's also false advertising, because I've had to speak to someone pretty high up in BT vision to actually get confirmation that they don't offer interactive services through Sky Sports 2.

My main gripe is not so much that BT's service offering (something I took an immense amount of utility from) has diminished, but that there was no communication or training. Imagine the scene - 2pm on a Saturday afternoon, I'm trying to ascertain whether I can watch the full 90 minutes of the match later that night, and someone on a helpdesk is trying to convince me that having access to 5 minutes of highlights of Southampton vs. Newcastle from 1994 somehow constitutes an improvement!!

[Quinn]

Fair enough. I inferred that you believed that the regulator's action had prevented BT from offering the on-demand matches, which I didn't believe was the case. Like you say, a case of BT shooting themselves in the foot.

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[aje]

No, that wasn't my intention. This is private sector fuck up (to the extent to which BT are actually private sector...). The category "shit service" is my attempt to show that i'm well aware that private companies are capable of making errors and annoying customers. But at least I'm able to opt out and go with an alternative.

I would love to learn more about what happened with the regulators, but I believe the rights are going to change dramatically pretty soon and Premier League clubs will be free to negotiate individually. That's why I'm Bill Kenwright is hanging onto Everton.

Last season I paid £14.99 a month to watch full 90 minutes highlights. This season I'll be paying £40 a month to watch 45 minute highlights. I'm pissed off, but take it on the chin. I only wished that I could pay the *market price* to watch football. If the regulators disappeared I doubt we'd have a problem.

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