• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

SEENIT

TV, Film, Broadband, Pay-TV, Games, Computing and Tech | News, Comment & Reviews

  • NEWS
  • UPCOMING BLU-RAYS
  • ADVERTISE
  • Twitter

BT and Virgin Media agree BT Sports deal

August 15, 2013 - Staff@seenituk

BT_sport_virginVirgin Media has finally struck a deal to offer broadband and TV rival BT’s three new sports channels.

Launched on August 1st, the channels offer football fans 38 Barclays Premier League matches per season.

Broadcast from the Olympic Park in East London, they also carry exclusive Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) coverage and will offer fans 800 hours of live tennis, including the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships.

BT is offering the channels free to its 6.4m broadband customers on their computers and via smartphone and tablet apps.

In addition, customers with a BT Vision+ or YouView set top box connected to BT’s infinity broadband will be able to watch the channels on their TVs.

The company is also making the channels available for free to its broadband customers who have a Sky+ box and to Sky broadband and TV subscribers in return for a monthly fee.

Virgin Media’s failure to agree a deal has seen it targeted by both Sky and BT in recent weeks, with each seeking to lure its customers away with competing offers.

Last month Sky offered to buy a BT Sport subscription for any Virgin Media customer who switched their TV and broadband services to the satellite giant.

Over the past few months Virgin Media customers have expressed dissatisfaction at the lack of a deal amid fears that they would lose access to some sports.

Subscribers to its XL package have become used to free Premier League football thanks to the inclusion of the ESPN family of channels. Non-XL and Sky customers pay £10 per month for the channels which cease broadcasting in their current form on July 31st.

After ESPN failed to retain any league rights in the last auction, it was eventually bought out by BT which has merged its rights into the new channels and retained a single ESPN branded channel which it offers alongside BT Sport 1 and BT Sport 2.

The deal covers a three year period and allows Virgin Media to offer BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN to customers taking their XL TV package.

Customers on lower packages will need to pay £15pm for the channels as a separate add-on.

Marc Watson, BT TV chief executive said: “I am delighted we have signed a deal with Virgin Media that increases the audience for BT Sport to around three million homes overnight. BT is rewarding its loyal customers with free sport and it is great to see Virgin Media immediately making BT Sport available to so many of their customers.”

Virgin Media is understood to have paid ESPN around £3 per month to bundle its channels to XL customers. Financial terms for the deal with BT have not been disclosed, however Watson said the agreement with Virgin “recognises the excellence of the channels” and BT’s “large investment” in its sport offering.

He added: “We are keen to make our services as widely available as possible and to do so via wholesale arrangements. We are doing this with Sport.”

Dana Strong, Virgin Media’s chief operating officer, said: “Virgin Media homes are kicking-off the new season with the most complete sporting line-up around in one simple subscription, from Barclays Premier League football and Aviva Premiership rugby to F1, live golf and the culmination of a great Ashes series. We’re excited to announce our deal with BT, making these fantastic new channels available at no extra cost to millions of Virgin TV viewers and in HD as standard.”

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Tagged With: Telecoms

RECENT ARTICLES

Paramount+ to launch in Italy next month

Amazon’s Freevee streaming service lands on Apple devices

Warner Bros releases new trailer for Emma Mackey’s Emily

George A. Romero inspired zombie series Day of the Dead is coming to Blu-ray next month 

UPCOMING BLU-RAY RELEASES

Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic comes to Blu-ray and 4K UHD Blu-ray next month

Eureka to release new trilogy of Boris Karloff classics

Disaster epic Shattered Earth is getting a UK release next month

Eureka to release restored edition of The Most Dangerous Game for 90th Anniversary

POPULAR

CMA approves BT and Warner Bros. Discovery sport channel tie-up

Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director’s cut is coming to 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray in September

Kris Marshall and Sally Bretton to headline new Death in Paradise spin-off

Streaming sticks and Smart TVs will be forced to prominently display UK catch-up apps under new rules

ADVERTISE ON SEENIT

We’re pleased to offer a number of advertising opportunities to high quality brands including sponsored content, competitions and advertising placements.

Please contact us for details.

 

TOPICS

Audio Blu-rays and DVD Cinema Gaming Guides Streaming Telecoms Television

Copyright © 2022 · All Rights Reserved · Contact Us · Copyright · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · StreamedTV.uk