By Andrew Warshaw
May 10 – Telecom giants BT have vowed to “give football back to the nation” by announcing that Premier League games will be offered free to its broadband customers next season in a revolutionary move that has taken the broadcasting world by storm.
In the biggest challenge to date of BSkyB’s domination of pay TV sports and live top-flight football matches, viewers who sign up for BT Broadband will not be charged for the 38 fixtures the company have won the right to screen per season – in succession to ESPN.
“UK sports fans have had a rough deal for too long,” BT chief executive Ian Livingston said. “Many have been priced out of the market but we will change this by giving away BT Sport for free with our broadband.”
Sky has dominated the British pay-TV market for the best part of a generation but newcomers BT are spending more than £1bn over three years to turn themselves into a serious rival, with Rio Ferdinand, David James and Michael Owen among the high-profile analysts joining a team that will broadcast from London’s Olympic Park.
BSkyB was dismissive of BT’s venture into sport, pointing out that it still had rights to far more Premier League matches, 116 in all, as well as a raft of other sports.
“BT Sport is not ‘free’ and customers are smart enough to realise they’ll pay for it through more expensive broadband and phone services,” charged Stephen van Rooyen, MD of Sky’s sales and marketing group.
The BT sports channel package, which goes live in August, nevertheless poses a serious threat to Sky. Viewers who want to watch BT Sport but do not have BT broadband will be charged a fee, just as Sky customers are.
BT, the latest in a long line of companies who have tried to enter the sports rights market, will have three channels – BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and the ESPN channel in the UK and Ireland, which BT has acquired. They will show not only the Premier League but also the FA Cup, as well games from Germany, France, Italy, Brazil and Scotland’s top flight.
Sky customers unwilling to switch to BT will be charged an additional monthly fee on top of their satellite subscription. “Sports fans are the winners today,” said Livingstone as BT prepared to move more than 300 staff into their new broadcasting hub.
Under its current deal, BT has pick of the games on 18 match days each season. That includes the first day of next season, August 17, when BT Sport take to the field of play.
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