• 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
  • FEATURES
  • ADVERTISE
  • Twitter

New BT Sport ad targets Virgin Media users

May 23, 2013 - Staff@seenituk

BT's new advert targeting Virgin Media customers.
BT’s new advert targeting Virgin Media customers.

BT has stepped up efforts to use its forthcoming sports channels to win over customers from Virgin Media.

The channels will offer sports fans 38 Barclays Premier League matches per season, exclusive Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) coverage and 800 hours of live tennis, including the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships.

Earlier this month BT announced its broadband customers with BT Vision, Sky+ boxes, PCs tablets and YouView boxes would all receive the channels at no additional cost when they launch in August.

Sky TV households who don’t have BT broadband will be able to buy the channels directly from BT for £12pm. However, to date there’s been no announcement of BT and Virgin agreeing a carriage deal for the channels.

The new advert is likely to fuel speculation that Virgin will be unable to offer the channels to its users, at least initially.

Earlier this year BT bought ESPN’s basket of channels which Virgin currently offers free to customers taking its XL TV package, however these channels will cease broadcasting in their current form at the end of July. This means Virgin Media customers will lose access to free premier league football and other major sports.

Even if Virgin does secure the channels, BT’s £1bn plus investment means it’s unlikely to allow its rival to offer them to customers at no charge.

A new ad campaign running on the BT website appears to detect whether visitors are using a BT, Sky or Virgin Media broadband connection in order to target specific ads to them.

While Sky broadband customers are shown an advert highlighting that BT Sport will be available via their current Sky+ boxes, Virgin users are presented with an advert urging them to switch broadband providers.

Virgin is already unable to offer customers Sky Atlantic after failing to reach a deal with Sky and could soon find itself unable to offer customers access to major sporting events, thereby decreasing the attractiveness of its TV packages.

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)

Related

Tagged With: BT, Telecoms, Virgin Media

Blu-ray and Gaming Top Buys

David Attenborough’s A Perfect Planet is getting a 4K Blu-ray release

Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford reunite in trailer for Season 24 Blu-ray release

Batman: Soul Of The Dragon comes to DVD and Blu-ray next month

RECENT

The New Mutants returns to top spot in UK film chart

CNN International is coming to Samsung TV Plus

O2, Three and Vodafone unite to end rural mobile ‘not spots’

BT Sport to show 26 Premier League games this month

Popular

Sky bags first run rights to Entertainment One catalogue

Freesat adds BBC Sounds to app line-up

Coming To America sequel to get global release on Amazon Prime Video

Hitman developers announce new James Bond game

Featured

Ofcom calls for greater social and geographic diversity in TV and radio

BT Sport app now available on Now TV devices

StarzPlay is now available from Rakuten TV

Britbox – What does the new UK-centric streaming service offer?

Popular Topics

  • Amazon Prime Video
  • BritBox
  • Freeview Play
  • Set Top Box Reviews

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.

MORE FROM US

Copyright © 2021 · All Rights Reserved · Contact Us · Copyright · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy
MayorWatch Publications Limited · 20-22 Wenlock Road · London N1 7GU · Company Number 6291816