By Andrew Warshaw
November 11 – In UK football’s most far-reaching broadcasting game-changer of recent years, BT Sport has won the UK rights to screen the Champions League and Europa League from 2015 in a staggering £897 million three-year deal with UEFA’s marketing agency TEAM.
The deal will undoubtedly lead to a power shift in the UK terrestrial and pay TV markets, with the premium Champions League rights making BT Sport a powerful contender for mid-week TV sports audiences.
BT Sport, which only started broadcasting live Premier League games this season, easily outbid a joint offer made by rivals BSkyB and ITV, effectively blowing Sky’s monopoly of the pay-tv market out of the water and taking a big chunk out of ITV’s mid-week prime-time broadcast schedules.
The £299 million-a-year contract is more than double the current deal.
“We are still at the beginning of a journey but we’ve taken a pretty big leap forward,” said BT TV chief executive Marc Watson, who rejected any suggestions the company had overpaid. “These are very valuable rights, they’re the kind of rights that can really make a difference in the market.”
BT Sport so far has two million subscribers and said it would likely put the majority of its Champions League matches on to a pay platform, but that the package would be far more affordable than the current Sky deal. Currently Sky subscribers pay £40+ per month for its sport channels that include Champions League football. BT has not yet announced a price point.
Predictably, Sky wasted no time downplaying the deal, saying its own Champions League coverage accounted for just three per cent of its viewership, compared with 18 per cent for the Premier League.
But the Champions League is by far and away club football’s most prestigious product and losing such a key tournament to its new and growing competitor is hugely significant as is the fact that on the pitch the race for Champions League spots will become even fiercer with so much more prize money on offer.
The announcement represents the biggest shake-up in the established order in Britain for years. “If people didn’t get it before, they do now,” said Watson. “We’re here to stay.”
UEFA confirmed the new broadcaster had won the exclusive UK live rights for both its club competitions for three years. The downside for fans who cannot afford pay-tv is that the tournaments will no longer be on free-to-air terrestrial channel ITV.
BT Sport apparently intends to offer certain matches, including both finals and one game per British club per season, free.
BT Sport entered the market by paying £738m over three years to show 38 Premier League games per season even though Sky retained the lion’s share of live games – paying ££2.3 billion for 116 games a season. But the Champions League deal looks set to be a game-changer, and seems sure to prompt a rush of new subscribers to the telecommunications giant and leave Sky in a vulnerable position.
BT chief executive Gavin Patterson said: “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. 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.”
Guy-Laurent Epstein, UEFA Events SA Marketing Director, said: “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.”
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