BackBT wins rights to live Champions League, Europa League games
BT Sport channel will pay 997 mn for exclusive live broadcast rights that run for three seasons from 2015-16
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London: BT Group Plc., the biggest UK phone company, said its BT Sport channel will pay £997 million ($1.6 billion) for exclusive live broadcast rights for the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League soccer tournaments.
The rights run for three seasons from 2015-16, the London-based company said in a statement on Saturday. This is the first time a UK broadcaster has won exclusive rights to all matches for both tournaments, it said.
BT Sports will replace British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc.’s Sky Sports and ITV Plc in broadcasting the 350 matches. BT will pay about £299 million a season for the rights, a cost it said it can incur without changing its financial outlook.
“Both tournaments are world-class and firm favourites with many," Gavin Patterson, chief executive of BT, said in Saturday’s statement. “The live rights will give a major boost to BT Sport".
The UEFA tournament spending is in addition to the £1 billion BT had previously said it would spend over three years on rights for the BT Sport and ESPN channels it began broadcasting 1 August, said Dan Thomas, a spokesman for the company. More than 2 million customers have signed up for BT Sport and most were existing clients, Patterson told reporters on 31 October.
‘Armageddon scenario’
“The win by BT announced on Saturday is an Armageddon scenario in sports rights," according to Claire Enders, chief executive officer of Enders Analysis, a media researcher.
“We are already looking at a very distorted market for sports rights and it is going to get more distorted," she said in a phone interview. “We are very concerned about how this will play out long term for all the players in the market that have to bear these very substantial costs."
In a statement on Saturday, BSkyB said it bid for the rights to air the soccer tournaments with a clear view of what they were worth.
“Nothing changes until 2015 and we look forward to 18 more months of live Champions League on Sky Sports," BSkyB said. “We will now re-deploy resources and continue to bring customers the best choice of TV across our offering." Bloomberg
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