“Sports fans are the winners today”: BT reveals more details of its new sports channels
Headlining a flurry of announcements about its soon-to-launch TV sports channels, BT has revealed that BT Sport will be free to any of consumer of its broadband services – making this the first time in more than 20 years that weekly live matches from the Barclays Premier League will be free to watch.
There will be 38 live and exclusive football matches from the Barclays Premier League – including 18 ‘first pick’ matches – and up to 69 live rugby matches from the Aviva Premiership where BT will be the sole and exclusive broadcaster. In addition, there will be live football from several other top leagues around the world including Germany, France, Italy and Brazil, as well as FA Cup ties, the UEFA Europa League, Scottish Premier League, WTA women’s tennis and action from the UFC.
BT has also secured rights for Moto GP, Women’s Super League football, Australian ‘A’ league soccer, and action sport and lifestyle programming from Red Bull Media House.
To encourage people to switch, BT is offering new customers BT Infinity, its flagship superfast fibre product, from £15 per month or copper broadband from £10.
Ian Livingston, BT chief executive, says: “UK Sports fans have had a rough deal for too long. Many have been priced out of the market but we will change this by giving away BT Sport for free with our broadband. Sports fans are the winners today.
“BT is the home of broadband so the fight for customers will now take place on our own turf. BT Sport will complement our world class fibre network. Customers don’t have to take BT Infinity to get BT Sport but we are encouraging them to move onto fibre broadband so they can enjoy the best of both worlds.”
BT Sport will be easily accessible direct from BT. It will be available via BT’s own TV service, Sky’s digital satellite platform and also online or via a new App, enabling customers to enjoy the channels on the move or at home on their PCs, smartphones, tablets etc.
Customers who wish to watch BT Sport on their TVs will require a set top box. This will be a YouView or Vision+ box for BT TV customers or a Sky box if customers take the channels via Sky’s digital satellite platform.