I strongly suggest everybody here who is upset with the faulty software begin contacting Sony to ask them when they plan to fix the issue or provide partial refund as per the Consumer Rights Act 2015 as this is a fault at factory issue. I have begun this process but so far Sony is refusing to cooperate, although they are not ignoring my communications. I am nearly at the stage where a complaint can be submitted to Sony UK.
If the complaint is not addressed in a reasonable amount of time (normally 8 weeks) then an Ombudsman will look into it, in this case Retail ADR. Authorised Ombudsman organisations do not usually look into old complaints, and won't look into any individuals complaint that is currently involved in legal recourse brought by that individual... so it means you should use the reminder functions in your laptops or phones to remind you it has been 8 weeks since you sent Sony your complaint (provided they do not get back to you). If Sony's complaints department rejects yours complaint before the 8 weeks you can then go immediately to the Ombudsman.
The specification page for my model (49XE8396) clearly states there is an EPG. There is no mention that the application is faulty, or is not intended to provide EPG functionality. The page is explicit that this model has EPG which the consumer must assume means is the data presented to the customer, the app itself is not the EPG. The EPG is the program listings and other information around the programmes on air and coming up next. There is no mention on the specification page that the EPG is limited to just terrestrial over the air signals, it states 'Yes'. That implies to the consumer that there is an EPG for both the Terrestrial OTA and Satellite signals.
A major misconception from another poster in this thread is that he\she appears to have thought the EPG was the app. EPG is not the app... it is the information of the programme listings for the broadcasts. To be more specific, the EPG is information held by the provider on their database (examples include Freeview, Freesat, GraceNote etc.) and the Guide app on the Bravia Android televisions simply arranges the EPG for visual consumption. The EPG must also continuously update which we know is not the case on Bravia televisions for Satalite signals, and this has been the case for several years. With the detail in the specifications page for my model of television this does not mean Sony must provide the Freesat EPG, it means they must provide a working EPG for Satellite signals AND terrestrial over the air signals.
Ergo Sony are required by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to either fix the fault so that the EPG satellite signals now populates, or provide a partial refund, or even replace the unit with one with a working EPG.
I strongly recommend you begin your complaints procedure with Sony, and if there is an unsatisfactory outcome after 8 weeks you need to take this to the ombudsman named Retail ADR as this is a fault at factory. It is not for the seller to fix the fault. Also... screenshot everything. I am trying to add the specifications page for my TV to the 'Wayback Machine' hosted by Archive.org but it seems to be having trouble with the Sony.co.uk domain, I will look for alternative Internet Archival services to see if they have more success. You should also screenshot this thread, and possibly others as many more exist for this issue. Don't forget that screenshots should be taken of any communication made with Sony via social media, such as the Direct Message feature within Twitter. These will need to be sent to the ombudsman to show that you tried to explain the problem, what you expect to be done by Sony and Sony's response.
I do not want a partial refund, I want Sony to either fix the EPG or be forced to explicitly state to all future customers that their satellite based EPG offering does not work. The latter would be too embarrassing so I expect the Sony to take the Ombudsman's option to fix this problem for all Bravia owners with devices connected to the internet to receive the patch.
