MILLIONS of BT TV and Sport customers will be hit with up to £48 a year price hikes from July 28, it’s been revealed.
The telecoms provider wouldn’t tell The Sun exactly which packages are changing but it did confirm that bills will rise by between £1 and £4 a month – or £12 to £48 a year.
It will come as a blow to sports fans in particular who take out BT Sport to watch Champions League football, which it has the exclusive rights to.
BT Sport also has the rights to Europa League matches and highlights, 52 Premier League games, European and Premiership Rugby Union, UFC fights, and more.
BT’s financial results for the year to March 31 2018 reveal it has 1.74million TV customers, although it says not all customers are affected.
We’ve asked how many customers will see bills hiked and we’ll update this story as soon as we get a response.
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There is good news for affected customers though, as you can cancel your BT TV and BT Sport contracts penalty free as a result of the increase.
But you can’t leave BT broadband contracts for free if you’re still within the contract’s minimum term – typically the first 12 to 24 months from signing up or renewing.
Unhappy customers have been tweeting their frustration on social media. One Twitter user wrote: “You put my price up with no notice.
“Call centre left me on hold and cut me off twice in an hour. How do I cancel contract?”
Someone else wrote: “Another day, another price rise by BT”.
Another user tweeted: “Unbelievable BT Sport has just had a price rise now you want us to pay to watch this [UFC]”.
Someone else added: “Come on @bt_uk another price rise mid contract. You got me for another seven months and then I’m out of there. #NoMidContractPriceRises”.
Broadband, landline and mobile customers are unaffected as BT promised at the start of this year not to up these prices until March 2020.
After this date, prices will rise in line with the consumer prices index (CPI) measure of inflation each January.
BT’s boss warned just last month that prices could rise to pay for its 5G mobile rollout.
The provider last hiked landline, broadband and TV sport package prices in September 2018 by up to a whopping 40 per cent.
What made matters worse is that this was the SECOND price hike landline, broadband and BT Sport customers faced as bills rose by up to 33 per cent from January 2019.
Meanwhile, thousands of BT customers saw an up to £9 a month – or £108 a year – home phone package added to their bill in April unless they actively opted out.
A BT spokesperson said: “We’re contacting some of our BT TV and BT Sport customers to let them know of some changes to their pricing from the July 28.
“Some customers will see no changes at all and we believe we continue to provide unrivalled value for money when it comes to TV and sport content our customers love.
“Next season will be the biggest yet for BT Sport and customers will have access to live and exclusive UEFA Champions League and Europa League matches and highlights, 52 Premier League games – ten extra Premier League games, all European and Premiership Rugby Union matches, UFC, unmissable world title boxing, cricket, tennis, MotoGP and much more.”
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