Q: Activating apple tv

In UK there seems to be some issues with BT -> i have just purchased an apple tv and cant get past the set date and time page,please help!

If you have an iPhone, there is a workaround.

1. Setup Personal Hotspot on your iPhone: Share your Internet connection with Personal Hotspot - Apple Support

(If you don't have an iPhone, check if your phone allows to Share Internet with other devices, if yes, then look in your phone manual how to turn on this option)

2. Reset All Settings on your Apple TV: How to restart your Apple TV - Apple Support

3. Instead of connecting your Apple TV to your home WiFi, try this time to temporarily connect an Apple TV to Personal Hotspot connection created from your iPhone.

4. Finish setup of your Apple TV.

5. Reconnect your Apple TV to your home Wifi: Get help with Wi-Fi networks and Apple TV - Apple Support

If that setup worked, call your ISP and asked them to unlock for you ports listed in this article:

If your Apple TV stops at the date and time screen during startup - Apple Support

TCP and UDP ports and protocols used by Apple TV - Apple Support

For whatever reason it's not seeing the internet.

I think you suggest you've connected via ethernet - odd that that doesn't work unless ethernet is faulty..

What security setting are you using?  WPA2 is generally best, there used to be issues with the less secure WEP.

If you can get to the Settings menu try resetting the AppleTV.

If you are using custom DNS servers of some kind, might be best to revert to default ones in the router - Google's DNS services caused issues in the past.

Can you try it at a friend's house just to see if it can connect via a different network ?  It's possible you have a lemon though, and you might want to get it exchanged or a refund if possible.

THis was happening to my newly bought apple tv too.  I turned off the wifi and used the personal hot spot on my iPad to activate the Apple TV .   It worked straight away.  I turned the wifi back on and everything was ok.