BT and Sky prep cross-supply roll-out

Two years ago this week, BT and Sky first announced a deal that would give customers of each company access to their rival's TV channels.

With the exception of Sky Sports Box Office appearing on BT TV's channel list at the end of November, most viewers won't have noticed any significant change during that time.

Now it's been confirmed that limited Sky and BT users are testing the integration of rival channels ahead of an official launch in early 2020.

A number of BT customers have been selected as trialists who will get access to the full Now TV service on their BT YouView receivers, enabling them to access the full set of Sky's entertainment and sports channels on their BT YouView boxes for the first time. Sky Cinema channels are already included on BT TV.

Meanwhile, RXTVlog understands that there are a number of users at Sky who have been given access to BT Sport via satellite  - as part of the same deal, Sky will directly market BT Sport with Sky Customer Service able to add, remove and bill the channels directly to customer's accounts. Currently, Sky customers have to sign-up with BT, who act as gatekeepers to the channels via satellite, meaning viewers are billed separately for different aspects of their satellite service.

In the Republic of Ireland, cross-supply deals are already in force, where Sky customers are able to bundle sports channels from Sky, BT and Premier Sports in one single package, called Sports Extra.