BT TV recording losses and TV guide changes

On February 21 2020 we made some changes to BT TV, introducing flexible TV packages where you can upgrade, downgrade and even bolt-on content. 

This includes the availability of NOW TV content for BT TV customers, which are included with some of our flexible TV packages or as bolt-ons.

Losses of channels and recordings

Existing BT TV customers who move to one of our new flexible packages may lose access to some channels they previously subscribed too, along with any recordings made from these channels. If this happens you will see a message saying 'Recording Unavailable'. The channels you lose depend on the package you move to.

Channels losses: Alibi, Animal Planet, CNN, Comedy Central, Comedy Central Extra, Crime & Investigation, Discovery, Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo, E!, Eden, Eurosport 1, Eurosport 2,  History 2, Investigation Discovery, Lifetime, Movies 24, MTV, MTV Classic, MTV Music, National Geographic, TCM, TLC and W.

If you move from Kids Extra to NOW TV Kids you'll lose: Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD and Nick Junior Too.

If you take one of our new packages: VIP, Big Sport, Big Entertainment, Sport or Entertainment and decide to move to our Classic Entertainment package, you will lose access to channels you no longer subscribe to. This means you won’t be able to play any recordings made from these channels.

Find out what channels and bolt-ons you get with different BT TV packages >

TV Guide changes

To coincide with the changes, the TV Guide (or Electronic Program Guide/EPG) on BT TV boxes was updated. All BT TV customers will now see the following NOW TV channels in the EPG.

• Entertainment: 340-352, 355-367
• Sky Sports: 416-429, 439-449
• NOW TV Kids: 466-471, 473-476
• Sky Cinema: 501-511, 515-525

In order to watch these channels you’ll need to be on one of our new broadband and BT TV packages, or you can add NOW TV Passes, which work as monthly rolling contracts. You can get NOW TV via BT.com, My BT or by calling our customer service team on 0800 800 150.

Duplicate and missing channels

Following the TV Guide update, existing BT TV customers may notice some duplicate channels. This is because some of the new NOW TV channels are available through BT TV.

For instance, Cartoonito is available with our BT TV Kids bolt-on on channel 488, but you can also get it through the NOW TV Kids Pass on channel 471.

If you can no longer watch one of the BT TV channels listed below, you may be watching the NOW TV version, so try the other channel.