Big T
Guru
- Location
- Nottingham
That’s why we ditched BT. I was paying £66 a month for just broadband and landline. I’m paying £27 a month on Sky for broadband and I’ve ditched the landline.
Streaming Cycling in UK - Discovery+ prices!
- Thread starter gom
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
That’s why we ditched BT. I was paying £66 a month for just broadband and landline. I’m paying £27 a month on Sky for broadband and I’ve ditched the landline.
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
I'm on BT broadband and they want an additional £19 pcm from me for TNT. Trouble is, to get that they require a 24 month recommitment to broadband ... which is £80-odd pcm. That expires in July and I'm planning on looking at alternatives then so I definitely don't want to recommit.
I get (got) Eurosport through Sky and they want £29 pcm for TNT, which isn't particularly exciting.
All so fecking complicated.
AndyRM
XOXO
- Location
- North Shields
Start looking at alternatives now. If you're within 4 months of the end of your contract, BT/EE will do a lot (incentive/price wise) to try and keep you.
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
I've been investigating but they love to hide the detail of what you actually get. For instance BT want to charge me the same high price to renew what I have, or a marginally lower one for a similar looking EE thing. But as I switched between browser tabs And generally fannied around I suddenly found myself confronted with a BT page offering what looked like (but probably wasn't) the same thing for half the price. No idea how I got there.
Time for a spreadsheet. There's nothing that can't be improved by a spreadsheet.
One thing's for sure, ditching the landline, that we only use to receive entertaining scam calls, will save a bit.
After cancelling my Discovery+ subscription, I looked round for economic ways of watching as much cycling as possible and finally decided to use a VPN to access coverage from other countries. I knew that I wouldn’t get an English commentary, but I can live without that as the onscreen captions give enough information to know what is happening.
I watched the final cyclocross races from Oostmalle last Sunday on Sporza (Belgium – Flemish commentary), and this weekend I saw the Het Nieuwsblad races on Saturday (Sporza again) and Kuurne – Brussels – Kuurne on RTBF (Belgium – French commentary, though the onscreen captions were in Dutch, e.g. Kop van de wedstrijd) on Sunday.
Everything has worked well.
I set up accounts at Sporza and RTBF (both free) using my Google account details so I didn’t have to disclose a British email address. It’s also necessary to input a postcode, and obviously a Belgian one is expected. An internet search gave me all the options and I chose one more or less at random. It was accepted on both sites.
As for the cost of the VPN, I chose NordVPN and took a two year subscription which is payable up front. There was an offer which made the cost the equivalent of £3.11 per month. However, I went through the Quidco cashback site which had a very generous percentage reduction. The cashback has already been approved, and reduces the cost to £1.88 per month.
I’m happy with that.
I watched the final cyclocross races from Oostmalle last Sunday on Sporza (Belgium – Flemish commentary), and this weekend I saw the Het Nieuwsblad races on Saturday (Sporza again) and Kuurne – Brussels – Kuurne on RTBF (Belgium – French commentary, though the onscreen captions were in Dutch, e.g. Kop van de wedstrijd) on Sunday.
Everything has worked well.
I set up accounts at Sporza and RTBF (both free) using my Google account details so I didn’t have to disclose a British email address. It’s also necessary to input a postcode, and obviously a Belgian one is expected. An internet search gave me all the options and I chose one more or less at random. It was accepted on both sites.
As for the cost of the VPN, I chose NordVPN and took a two year subscription which is payable up front. There was an offer which made the cost the equivalent of £3.11 per month. However, I went through the Quidco cashback site which had a very generous percentage reduction. The cashback has already been approved, and reduces the cost to £1.88 per month.
I’m happy with that.
ebikeerwidnes
Guru
- Location
- Z’ha’dum
Which is exactly what people will be tempted to do
they might complain about it being illegal and all that - but sometime they take action that are just certain to make people do this
and given that they are pretty much eliminating cycling from the telly - except the TdF - once ITV stop their bit - then the level to which it is immoral is rather low
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
Got any other suggestions?
AndyRM
XOXO
- Location
- North Shields
Yup. It's a pain in the derriere but you're best off calling. There's stuff that the call centre guides can offer which isn't on the website.
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
pretty much resigned to not watching any cycling now 
I don't know if it will work but perhaps a VPN to France then subscribe to Max with the sport option for 10.99€ per month. This gives you access to Eurosport with English commentary. I watched the Omloop women's on Saturday with commentary by Matty McDonald and Dani Christmas.
Xipe Totec
Frrrg rrrrf yrrrr crrrnds
- Location
- Between The Thirteen And The Nine
I've just done something similar. I already have a Nord VPN sub, and I use a Chromecast with Google TV dongle on my clunky old Dumb TV. After setting up a second Google account I installed the Nord app on the Chromecast, set my location to Australia so I could download the SBS On Demand app - SBS shows all the Grand Tours & what looks like most of the classics & other major races & tours for free. Set up an SBS account & am now looking forward to watching Strade Bianche (with English commentary that I *really* hope wont be Syndicated Carlton) on the Big Telly!
I also installed a web browswer on the Chromecast, so I can point my VPN to Belgium, so in a little while I hope to be watching MVDP's season debut at Le Samyn on Sporza! I don't speak a word of Flemish but the commentary will be more enjoyable & make more sense than Carlton's adenoidal, inane, jingoistic chuntering and sniggering. I'm not a fan of Carlton.
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
It seems a higher-risk option than watching Sporza and other host broadcasters because Max is still Warner Bros Discovery, who really want you to pay the higher TNT price, so they have every incentive to let you subscribe, then cut you off for breaking the terms, keeping your subs, and probably report you to your VPN provider and geoblock it.
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
Surprisingly, L'Equipe didn't encrypt or geoblock their stream for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday. I don't know how many races that will be useful for, but it helps me for races which aren't on Eurosport 1 (which are mainly minor races that clash with live skiing or tennis).
Yes, there’s a great woman called Belinda at the BT call centre in Doncaster, she got me a great deal when they cocked up my fibre broadband install. Ive also had an amazing EE deal for years because one of the thought I was about to leave. Shame you have to play the game though.
