I don't have an aerial and got the channels throug...

Question

So when I signed up for BT, I asked the sales person whether I would get TV channels without the aerial. They explained that we wouldn't get the majority of freeview channels but we would get the extra channels BT give you (Comedy Central, Discovery, MTV etc) and the 2 channels I was was particularly bothered about BT Sport 1 & BT Sport 2. Perfect! I wasn't bothered about the other freview channels and I was getting fast boradband too at a much lower cost that Virgin Media who I moved from.
So a few weeks in, having had no problems from when it was set up, BT sport stopped working. When flicking through the channels I realised that all the channels were suddenly down too. I tried unplugging the hub and youview box, plugging them in again. This was unsuccesful so I started following all the troubleshooting guides on the BT site... Still nothing.
Next I called BT. I spoke to a seemingly very pleasent BT representitive who, over the phone, took me through numerous steps to try and fix the problem. After not getting anywhere, he asked if I had an aerial. I explained we hadn't and then he told me this was the problem. I explained that we had been watching TV channels without an aerial for weeks without any problem but he continued to tell me it would only work with an aerial. I hate liars and I'm now particularly annoyed at BT. How could he offer me that explanation when it had been working all that time beforehand. I'm not bothered about the other channels we couldn't recieve and I don't want to get an aerial for them. If the salesperson advised me that my TV service would be shut off unless I get an aerial, I wouldn't have gone with BT and I would have either stuck with Virgin Media or possibly chosen Sky.
I don't really know what to do now. Has anybody else had this problem? Has anyone manage to get it working again?

Answer 1

I've been battling the same problem for a while, I've no terrestrial aerial only Freesat and BT iInfinity. I only got the BT Youview box to allow me to get BT Sport in HD (OK I did let the grandchildren talk me in to having BT Kids as well) but as I already had a Freesat box I'd no interest in getting a new terrestrial aerial installed. 
Initially it all worked OK but then I started loosing access to BY Sport found that if I turned it off for an hour or so there was a good chance of getting it back but that wasn't always guaranteed and as time went by the solution became less and less successful.
At the time there was a statement on a BT web page that CLEARLY stated something to the effect that a terrestrial aerial was not a necessity if you were happy to forgo the usual channels. So I chased BT, the usual round of chats via there "Overseas" support got me nowhere but I was amazed to receive a call from a BT Engineer from the North East a few days later.
To cut to the chase the reasoning to why it stops working is Network Time Synchronisation (NTS). Apparently the first time you plug the Youview box in, it obtains the time over the broadband connection. However it does occasionally recheck and for some daft reason switches to the Freeview signal to get it. No Signal - No NTS - So No BT Sport, simple as that.
Sound plausible I tried an internal aerial but with no success so am about to cancel what I can but will probably end up paying for the box for the full year, what can only be regarded as a total con.
Will switch providers when my next renewal comes up.
Sorry for the bad news but hope that helps