BT Sport beat Sky and ITV to win exclusive Champions League and Europa League deal worth almost £1BILLION BT Sport have secured exclusive rights to the Champions League in a landmark deal worth close to £1billion. The announcement is a huge blow for the current broadcasters Sky and ITV, who have enjoyed a long-running relationship with the competition. BT will show a number of matches free-to-air, including the finals of both competitions in a deal that will cost the channel £299m per season for three seasons from 2015-16. Charles Sale revealed in September that ITV feared losing their rights to Europes premier club competition after a similar deal broke in France. The channel will air all 350 matches live from both competitions. Both the Champions League and Europa League finals will be shown free-to-air, as well as a selection of matches from throughout the competition. I am thrilled that BT Sport will be the only place where fans can enjoy all the live action from the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, said BTs chief executive Gavin Patterson. Both tournaments are world class and firm favourites with many. The live rights will give a major boost to BT Sport and give people yet another reason to take our terrific service. BT Sport has got off to a strong start with customers enjoying what we have to offer. We have attracted millions of customers by giving sport back to the fans, and we can assure people who want to catch all the action, that European football will be far more accessible and affordable with BT. Guy-Laurent Epstein, UEFA Events SA Marketing Director, added: UEFA is delighted to welcome newcomer BT Sport to the family of UEFA Champions League rights holders. Since its launch in the summer, BT Sport has been UEFA’s partner for the UEFA Europa League and has demonstrated its ability to deliver premium sports coverage. We look forward to working with BT Sport on both competitions in the 2015-18 rights cycle. In a statement relased by Sky the company said BT overpaid for the rights. We bid with a clear view of what the rights are worth to us. It seems BT chose to pay far in excess of our valuation, read a statement. There are many ways in which we can invest in our service for customers. We take a disciplined approach and there is always a level at which we will choose to focus on something else. If we thought it was worth more, wed have paid more. Nothing changes until 2015 and we look forward to 18 more months of live Champions League on Sky Sports. We will now re-deploy resources and continue to bring customers the best choice of TV across our offering. ITV has been the Champions League broadcaster since the competitions introduction in 1992 - ITVs trump card with UEFA is their ability to broadcast to every household in the UK, an attractive prospect for sponsors. BT have shown a number of matches free-to-air this season Crystal Palace v Arsenal was shown last month, as part of a free weekend where the channel opened up all its content. ITV are now left with no live club football from 2015, BT Sport and the BBC having won the rights to the FA Cup after this season. Sky was determined not to allow BT Sport to win this particular battle, even considering sub-letting some matches to ITV to satisfy UEFAs desire for some terrestrial coverage. BT Sport have gained two million subscribers since entering the market. They paid £738m for 38 live matches this season, compared to the £2.3bn Sky paid for 116 live games. ITVs only remaining rights are Englands home and away matches, a deal secure until 2018. FIGHT FOR THE RIGHTS PREMIER LEAGUE: Sky Sports and BT Sport until 2016 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Sky Sports and ITV until 2015; BT Sport from 2015-18 EUROPA LEAGUE: ITV and BT Sport until 2015; BT Sport 2015-18 FA CUP: ITV Sport and BT Sport until 2014; BBC and BT Sport 2014-18 LEAGUE CUP: Sky Sports until 2018 FOOTBALL LEAGUE: Sky Sports until 2018 FOOTBALL CONFERENCE: BT Sport until 2015 ENGLAND INTERNATIONALS: ITV until 2018
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 21:33:27 +0000
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