BT is to give away YouView digital boxes to people that sign up to its Infinity fibre broadband or TV Essential service, provided they pay a £50 activation charge plus delivery costs.
The Humax YouView box will give access to free digital channels as well as pay per view from Sky and catch up and other video on-demand services.
The offer will start in October. New customers will have to pay a £49 activation charge and £6.95 postage and packing.
People can register their interest now to be first in the exclusive earlybird queue to place an order between October 19 and 26.
Existing customers can also upgrade to YouView for £49 plus a £7 delivery fee, which is still substantially cheaper than the £299 that the Humax STR-T1000 on its own.
YouView is a subscription free digital TV service run in clooaboration with the BBC, BT, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV, Arqiva and TalkTalk.
Viewers get the usual Freeview channels plus access to catch-up services via BBC iPlayer and Channel 4 OD, and pay as you go services.
Those who are not able able to get the BT Infinity service and are on BT’s ADSL broadband service must subscribe to BT’s TV Essentials service, which costs £4 per month.
The YouView box from BT has a 500 GB hard drive and is able to store up to 300 hours of SD TV or around 125 hours of HD TV. The offer also lets customers access to BT’s Vision library of video on-demand with over five thousand programmes, including blockbuster and classic films, children’s shows and sports.
To promote the service, YouView is launching a £10m TV campaign created by agency Adam & Eve DDB, which features the likes of Gary Barlow, Benedict Cumberbatch and Doctor Who’s Daleks projected onto buildings. The campaign introduces the strapline, “Extraordinary TV for everyone”.
Television activity will be supported by tactical outdoor and digital placements that remind people they haven’t missed their favourite shows if they use YouView, because of its ability to catch up on the past week of TV.
Steve Conway, head of marketing at YouView, said: “Our multimedia campaign, alongside the impending launch of YouView via BT and TalkTalk, really does mark the arrival of YouView to masses.”
