BT Sport has stepped up its challenge to Sky as the main sporting broadcast outlet by bidding in excess of €1 Billion to secure exclusive rights in Britain to the Champions’ League from the 2015/2016 season.
The amount is more than double that paid up to now by Sky and ITV in a deal that enabled a blend of free to air and subscription coverage.
There is no confirmation yet of the impact this may have on Irish coverage which is currently shared between RTE, Sky, TV3, and Setanta.
Setanta have the rights to carry BT Sports channels in the Republic of Ireland and this should be another big boost to the Dublin based broadcaster that also carries GAA, Irish Basketball and other exclusive content within the Irish market.
BT Sport has said it will need to reconsider its current model of free distribution in the UK to those who are BT Broadband subscribers. The outlay on rights is bound to lead to price inflation for consumers but such is the attraction of the best sporting events that BT management clearly believe it is worth the gamble.
The battle between BT and Sky is only a year old and yet already has the hallmark of one which will define TV viewing for decades.
The battle over rights to show competing formats in European Rugby has threatened to dismantle the success built up over nearly 20 years of the Heineken Cup and its organising body European Rugby Cup Limited.
Arguments in that sport have circled around representation and qualification structures but in reality the driver for change has always been the competing contracts signed by English Rugby Clubs with BT Sport and the ERC with Sky. The two deals are mutually exclusive and there can be only one winner.
The weekend deal in the much larger world of European soccer indicates, if there was ever any doubt, that BT Sport is staking a major claim to the future of sports broadcasting. It is as big a one as Sky made 25 years ago when bursting onto the sporting scene and changing the game entirely.
It now has the rights to all 350 European Champions’ League and Europa League games though it has said it will show some games, most likely including the finals on a free to air basis.
BT announced recently that its profits for the last six months alone were over €850 million and that it had already signed up 2 million customers to BT Sport since going live with the service in August.
Watch out for a major announcement involving Sport for Business and BT Sport in the coming weeks.
Sport for Business is a membership organisation for leaders and energetic organisations that see the benefits of building new ways for sport and business to work closer and better together. Click here to Join us today to play your part alongside others of like mind and similar purpose.
Get a head start by signing up to our daily news digest. Relevant information on sport and business from around the world. Delivered Free before 8am every Monday to Friday. Click Here to Register for free.
