BT Vision: a first look, part 2

How much will BT Vision cost?

It’s the big question and it’s not unreasonable to suspect that BT will wait for Sky to announce its broadband prices first. We know the new Total Broadband packages range from £17.99 to £26.99 a month with various initial discounts. With the more expensive packs you get the Home Hub free, while it’s £30 for customers on the cheapest deal.

The BT Vision set-top box will be "south of £100", according to BT. The nearest comparable device at present is Sagem’s 6280T 80GB hard disk recorder with dual Freeview tuners, at £142 from Amazon.co.uk, but this doesn’t include Ethernet, or HD support.

Video on demand will be charged either on a subscription or pay-as-you-go basis and customers can chop and change between the two methods on a monthly basis. Again there are no exact prices, but the pay-as-you-go content will be priced from “pence to pounds”.

The future

Much like Sky+ the BT Vision box has a mystery card reader that you can expect to have some premium-rate function in the not too distant future. We’re also promised features from the beginning of next year that will let us schedule recordings remotely, most likely via a web browser.

Being internet connected, the box will be capable of receiving firmware updates. On the downside, it will also be capable of sending you adverts. “We’re looking very closely at ways to use commercial messages on the service,” a BT spokesman told us, adding that any such use of advertising would be with a "light touch".

One feature that may cause alarm concerns privacy. BT openly admits it will monitor what its customers are doing, what they’re watching, downloading, what they’re buying and when. “We know everything about what they’re doing,” BT’s spokesman said. BT later added that it would be no more active in this area than other ISPs and television companies and said it was planning "nothing sinister".

BT has no plans to let customers opt out of this monitoring. In fact it sees it as beneficial to customers. BT said that, for example, if someone spends more via pay-as-you-go than they would if they’d had a subscription, they’ll get a message advising them to take a subscription.

They could also be targeted with promotional messages for shows related to content they’ve already viewed. For example if you’ve bought a Green Day video, you could get a message about a Green Day concert on the service.

Good, bad or ugly?

We didn’t see a “live” version of the service, so whether it actually works or not will be seen later this year. The onscreen display has been well thought out and is let down only by the remote control, which is daunting and unfriendly.

If you’re on a budget you’ll find cheaper broadband deals out there, but if you’re prepared to pay an average price for broadband and don’t want the sport and range of channels offered by Sky, BT Vision could be just what you’re looking for.

Andrew Craig

Part 1: What is BT Vision and what's on offer?