All4 and ITV on demand

[TrixieJ]

Having not been told when purchasing my Sony TV that I would need an aerial to access All4 and ITV through YouView, I have purchased BT TV.  I installed the box today, but still the missing apps are again All4 and ITV.  I presumed as I was subscribing to a TV provider that I would not now have to keep my NowTV box so I can access those two apps.  BT are yet to install my aerial to go with the box so hopefully that will definitely rectify the problem - does anyone know if that is the case or has similar experience.  I will never buy a Sony TV ever again - I have had no such problems with my Samsung in my bedroom! 

[Pascale_F]

Hi TrixieJ,

Welcome to the community.

I'll see if I can find this out for you. Maybe someone else in the community can help in the meantime.

Thanks,

Pascale

[The_Black_Rose]

Hi TrixieJ ,

To be honest with you,the requirements for using Youview have always been the same and they've been available on Sony's official website for a long time. Here's the link stating the requirements: https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/articles/00129097

Cheers,
The_Black_Rose

[Tonycv51]

What is it you want to do with you view?

To watch live tv you'll need an aerial but I'm sure I read on here the aerial is only required to activate youview but you can then watch catch up with no aerial so you could try that if you have an aerial in the house you can temporarily connect

Other option is to sideload the apps and turn off youview. You'd then have bbc itv, all4, my5 for catch up (you need to access them via app favourites or apps, not via the select bar) 

[TrixieJ]

Hi, not really sure what you're getting at/mean?

Trix

[The_Black_Rose]

Hi TrixieJ ,

iTV, BBC iPlayer, Demand 4 and My5 are services provided by Youview. In order to use them, Youview has to be enabled and retuning at least once using an Aerial is required.

Cheers,
The_Black_Rose

[TrixieJ]

I wish I was told this when I was sold the TV - I would have gone with a
Samsung in that case! Thanks anyway.

[Tonycv51]

You have 2 options assuming it's too late to take the Tv back

1- connect the Tv to an aerial just for initial setup

2- if you're OK with using a computer to download some files onto a USB and install them on the TV you can add the catch up apps manually

It's actually itv and channel 4 that are the issue. I don't know why their apps aren't fully available on android tv seeing as they have android apps. At least Sony has come up with a solution via youview which you don't get on other android tvs. 

[royabrown2]

@Tonycv51 @TrixieJ 

It’s always been a quirk of YouView that you have to have tuned in terrestrial itv before you can use the itv hub and Channel 4 before you can use All4, even on the set top boxes. Though the BBC IPlayer and My5 don’t have that requirement.

And it is no different on YouView on these Sony TVs.

But unfortunately, the code to check this is built in to the apps; so even if you sideload them, they are still the YouView versions, and will still do this.

It therefore follows that your option 2 will not work, alas, @Tonycv51. Though your option 1 certainly will.

But me, I’d chop the TV back in for a Samsung any day.

Another option, though, if you are now stuck with the TV, @TrixieJ , is to use a smart stick, so back to your NowTV one, or Amazon, or (my preferred option) a Roku stick. This will give you these two Players without hassle, and other goodies besides, for £30-£50, and you don’t need an ongoing subscription, unless you want that*.

*For those new to NowTV, you have to give them your card details to get started; Cancel any Movies or Entertainment offers straight away, so they don’t renew after a month, but you can still enjoy the offered goodies for that first month, as Cancel cancels the renewing, not the ‘free’ month.

[ch3nks]

and it even stinks more that ITV Hub is actually available as an Android TV app for the nvidia shield etc, so the app is freely available to other androidtv users, just the sony users are locked out unless they enable youview.

All4 is the only app that isn't available on androidtv anywhere other than via youview.