BT Sport - Wikipedia
BT Sport is a group of pay TV sports channels offered by BT Consumer; a division of the BT Group in the UK and Ireland, launched on August 1, 2013. Based at the former International Broadcasting Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, BT Sport is available in the UK on BT TV, Sky and Virgin Media, and in the Republic of Ireland on Sky, Eir TV and Vodafone TV television platforms. It is available for viewing on Sky, Eir TV and Vodafone TV television platforms in the Republic of Ireland.
BT Sport is available for 52 Premier League matches per season, the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UFC, National League, Ligue 1, Serie A, European Rugby Challenge Cup, Premiership Rugby Cup, MotoGP, FIH Field hockey World League, and WWE have exclusive live broadcast rights. It is also the official broadcast partner of the European Rugby Champions Cup and Premiership Rugby. BT Sport, together with Sky Sports and BBC Alba, also owns the broadcast rights to the Scottish Professional Football League.
In May 2022, the BT Group announced that it will acquire BT Sport in a 50-50 acquisition with Warner Bros. Discovery and integrate it with its Eurosport network.
Premier League deal, launched
News of BT's first foray into sports broadcasting was announced on June 12, 2012, when it was announced that it had won the rights to broadcast 38 live Premier League games over three seasons starting with the 2013-14 season, beating out ESPN UK, which had shared the rights with Sky Sports the previous season. BT also announced at the same time that it would be launching its own channel for new soccer coverage, this news followed speculation that ESPN was reconsidering its position in the UK, and that BT would be launching its own channel for Premiership Rugby and its associated 7s series, the US, the Brazil, France, and Italy, as well as the rights to the top leagues in Brazil, France, and Italy.
Contract with UEFA, expanded
On June 9, 2015, BT Sport announced the launch of BT Sport Europe, a new channel that will broadcast all UEFA Champions League and Europa League matches. At the same time, it was announced that only the BT Sport 1 channel will be free to BT Internet subscribers, while BT Sport 2, BT Sport ESPN and BT Sport Europe will require an additional £5 subscription from viewers.BT also announced the Freeview HD channel, BT Sport Showcase," which will broadcast 12 Champions League and 14 Europa League matches for free over one season (at least one match per round, with each English team appearing once, including the finals of both competitions).
Joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery
In April 2021, it was reported that BT was considering selling all or part of BT Sport in order to focus more on fiber optic services. Rumored sellers included Amazon.com Inc. (one of the current rights holders of the Premier League), sports streaming provider DAZN (which has a significant lead over Sky Italia for exclusive domestic rights to Serie A soccer), and ESPN owner Disney. In September 2021, DAZN was reported to be in "advanced negotiations" with BT. In December, however, negotiations stalled, and Discovery Inc. which owned competitor Eurosport and was preparing to merge with WarnerMedia to form Warner Bros. Discovery, a joint venture with BT to combine their networks The two companies are reportedly in negotiations for an exclusive in February 2022.
Availability
In the UK, BT Sport is available in standard definition on all BT TV packages for BT broadband customers; for BT Infinity customers, programming is also available in UHD, called BT Sport Ultimate, for an additional fee.
Sky's BT Sport 1 is currently available to broadband subscribers as BT Sport Lite, free of charge regardless of subscription. Plusnet TV also offered the same until November 1, 2021, when the TV brand was discontinued, but Plusnet customers can still access BT Sport through the app service. Customers who want to watch the remaining channels subscribe to the "BT Sport Pack" in standard or high definition; BT also offers broadband subscribers access to the channels through the BT Sport online player and mobile app BT Sport pack subscribers will receive BoxNation in standard definition only, and Sky UK customers also have exclusive access to AMC from BT in the relevant quality.
Premier League
BT Sport currently has the rights to 68 live Premier League matches in the 2020-21 season and 52 matches per season from 2021-22 to 2024-25. The packages (A and G) give BT the rights to 20 second picks and 12 face picks per season. In the current rights period, BT Sport will air live matches on Saturday lunchtimes from 12:30pm, as well as midweek matches and five split-weekend matches. The Premier League rights are shared by Sky Sports and Amazon Prime Video, with 128 and 20 live matches respectively, while the BBC broadcasts highlights of all matches on Match of the Day.
BT Sport Score
BT Sport Score is a weekly television program on BT Sport during the soccer season, launched in 2016 to compete with BBC's Final Score and Sky Sports' Soccer Saturday. The show updates viewers on the progress of association soccer matches in the UK on Saturdays between 2:45pm and 5:00pm. Darrell Curry and Jules Bleach will be in charge of BT Sport Score, while Bleach will provide updates on Football League games, fantasy football, and social media. Pundits including Robbie Savage, Chris Sutton, Peter Crouch, Karen Carney, and Jermaine Jenas, as well as former Premier League referee Peter Walton, will analyze match refereeing, and a variety of guests will appear.
UEFA Super Cup
Since 2015, BT Sport has provided exclusive live coverage of the UEFA Super Cup; in 2019, Gary Lineker presents alongside Joe Cole, Glenn Hoddle, and Steve McManaman. Darren Fletcher and Jermaine Jenas provided commentary, and both Des Kelly and Lindsay Hipgrave reported.
Vanarama National League
BT Sport has exclusive rights to the Vanarama National League, airing one match each weekend. Matt Smith is the main host, joined by pundits Grant Holt, Chris Hargreaves, and Kevin Davis, with Davis providing co-commentary on rare occasions. Match commentator Adam Summerton is at the commentary table with Adam Virgo. Reporters include Jeff Brazier and Natalie Quirk, as well as Becky Ives on occasion.
FA Trophy and FA Base
Each year, BT broadcasts the FA Trophy and FA Vase finals completely exclusively from Wembley. Most recently in 2019, Matt Smith presented by Peter Drury and Kevin Davies for the 2019 FA Vase final and Adam Summerton and Adam Vargo for the 2019 FA Trophy final, with Jeff Blazer reporting across both matches! The game will be played at the FA Trophy Final in London on Saturday, October 7, 2019.
