On February 21 2020 we made some changes to BT TV, introducing flexible TV packages where you can upgrade, downgrade and even add-on content.
This includes the availability of NOW content for BT TV customers, which are included with some of our flexible TV packages.
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, Boomerang, Cartoon Network, Cartoonito, CNN, Comedy Central, Comedy Central Extra, Crime & Investigation, Discovery, Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo, Eden, Gold, History 2, Investigation Discovery, Lifetime, Movies 24, MTV, MTV Classic, MTV Music, National Geographic, Nick Jr Too, TCM, TLC and W.
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 add-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 Membership channels in the EPG.
- Entertainment: 340-352, 355-367 - including kids' channels at 466-471, 473-476
- Sports: 416-429, 439-449
- 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 Membership, which work as monthly rolling subscriptions. You can get NOW 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 channels are available through BT TV.
If you can no longer watch one of the BT TV channels listed below, you may be watching the NOW version, so try the other channel.
| Channel | NOW/BT | Channel number |
| Animal Planet | BT | 325 |
| Comedy Central | NOW | 344 |
| Comedy Central HD | NOW | 359 |
| Comedy Central HD | BT TV | 370 |
| Discovery | BT | 322 |
| Discovery Science | BT | 336 |
| Discovery Turbo | BT | 337 |
| Discovery HD | BT | 376 |
| Investigation Discovery | BT | 324 |
| MTV | NOW | 351 |
| MTV HD | NOW | 366 |
| MTV HD | BT | 371 |
| Nick Junior | NOW | 470 |
| Nick Toons | NOW | 469 |
| Nickelodeon | NOW | 468 |
| Sky Cinema Action | NOW | 507 |
| Sky Cinema Action | BT | 507 |
| Sky Cinema Comedy | NOW | 508 |
| Sky Cinema Comedy | BT | 508 |
| Sky Cinema Drama | NOW | 510 |
| Sky Cinema Drama | BT | 510 |
| Sky Cinema Family | NOW | 506 |
| Sky Cinema Family | BT | 506 |
| Sky Cinema Greats | NOW | 504 |
| Sky Cinema Greats | BT | 504 |
| Sky Cinema Hits | NOW | 503 |
| Sky Cinema Hits | BT | 503 |
| Sky Cinema Premiere | NOW | 501 |
| Sky Cinema Premiere | BT | 501 |
| Sky Cinema Sci-Fi & Horror | NOW | 511 |
| Sky Cinema Sci-Fi & Horror | BT | 511 |
| Sky Cinema Select | NOW | 502 |
| Sky Cinema Select | BT | 502 |
| Sky Cinema Thriller | NOW | 509 |
| Sky Cinema Thriller | BT | 509 |
| Sky Sports Main Event | NOW | 420 |
| Sky Sports Main Event | BT | 402 |
| Sky Sports Main Event HD | NOW | 440 |
| Sky Sports Main Event HD | BT | 437 |
| TLC | BT | 323 |