BT has today launched a multi-room option for its YouView-powered TV service, allowing subscribers to add a second box to their account.
The BT TV service offers a bouquet of pay-TV channels delivered over broadband alongside traditional aerial channels and on-demand and pay-per-view video apps.
Prices start at £7 per month for 20 subscription channels, including Fox, SyFy and Universal, with customers able to add further ‘packs’ such as HD, TV & film box sets and kids channels.
Customers also get BT’s flagship BT Sport channels which offer live coverage of Premier League football, the Aviva Rugby championship and major UFC bouts.
By paying an upfront fee of £99 for the box, and a £5pm subscription, customers can now watch and record all of their additional pay channels in a second room.
If they subscribe to BT’s HD pack they’ll also be able to watch in HD on both boxes without a further HD subscription.
In order to ensure users enjoy a good picture, BT says users must have broadband speeds of at least 34Mbps and recommends using a wired connection between both boxes and their Home Hub router.
Some customers already use a second box to watch the pay channels in another room but this has never been sanctioned by BT and it seems likely the firm will now block this for homes without a valid multi-room subscription.
Access to the free aerial channels and catch-up and third-party video on demand apps would be unaffected by any such move.
In recent months BT has added a number of new features to the service, including the option to buy and keep digital copies of movies, and a music service offering the latest releases from major artists such as Robbie Williams and Ellie Goulding.
In April the firm announced it had exceeded the 1m TV subscriber mark for the first time, in part due to the popularity of its BT Sport channels.
The new extra box service will help boost the desirability of the service by closing the feature gap with Sky and Virgin Media, both of which have long offered multi-room subscriptions.
It’s also likely to drive up average revenue per user, making existing customers more profitable to the company.
Announcing the new option, Alex Green, Director of TV for BT, said: “We are delighted to be able to offer BT customers the added flexibility of having two YouView+ boxes in their home. Over the past year, we have transformed our service by introducing pay TV channels delivered in fantastic HD quality on our market-leading YouView+ box. We believe this offers the best quality TV experience and the most competitive bundle with fibre in the market.
“Our content line-up is growing by the month and offers everything from premium Sport to movies to download to own. Our recent developments have been extremely well received by customers and we now have a very strong foundation for growth as we carry on expanding our service.”