EE TV: Phone network launches update for set-top box that lets people take their TV with them

The box has been around for a little over a year — but just got a huge new update

The mobile phone network EE also makes a TV set-top box, called EE TV, appropriately enough. The distinctive-looking box includes access to 70 free-to-air channels and catch-up, with pay TV options as well.

It’s been around for a little over a year now, but today added a new feature where you can watch recordings on your mobile as well as on the TV. EE TV has had a feature for some time where it can stream TV programmes from your box to your Android or iOS phone or tablet, anywhere in your home, and this included what’s being broadcast as well as recordings.

But now, things have gone one step further. Actually, several steps: the new EE TV app is much more comprehensive than before and from today allows you to set recordings for the shows you want to save. As you do so, there are several options so you can choose to record to the set-top box, your mobile device or both.

If you choose mobile, you then transfer the show to your device over your home wi-fi and can take it with you to watch wherever you are.

There’s a clever extra wrinkle to this: unlike catch-up channels and much other content, there’s no expiry date with these programmes so you can keep them on your mobile or tablet for as long as you want. And it will work with any programmes you can spot in the TV guide, among free-to-air channels.

These are clever features, some of them unique to EE TV and confirm the platform’s innovative intent. The mobile app works with any network, by the way, not just EE.

It also confirms EE’s determination to offer mobile calls, landline calls, home broadband and TV access from one box.

The box is a neat device that works well, with 1TB of storage and an interface that lets you create personal profiles for quicker access to the shows you like most. And its multiscreen feature lets different family members watch shows simultaneously on different screens. Sky Q is now capable of this multi-screen viewing, though it handles it in different ways, but EE TV has had it since it started.

The box also offers access to NOW TV, so viewers can access Sky Movies, Sky Sports and channels like Sky Atlantic for a fee, without the need for a long-erm contract, so it can be cancelled any time.