Court rules that Sky must offer Sky Sports channels to BT YouView customers
Sky and BT may now be locked in a battle over sports broadcast rights for their own services, but for more than four years, the two have also been fighting over Sky Sports broadcasts. Today, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) finally brought things closer to a resolution, after it ruled that BT must be allowed to offer its rival's sports channels to YouView customers for the first time. Ofcom had previously ruled that Sky must offer Sky Sports 1 and 2 at a 23 percent wholesale discount, but the case dragged on through the courts while BT readied its own sports TV service. Sky says it will fight the interim ruling, noting that BT is now in a significantly stronger position than it was four years ago. It also hopes that the landscape will shift once again when Ofcom concludes a new review on how companies offer wholesale channels. BT says it "looks forward" to offering the channels to YouView customers "very shortly," allowing it to join Virgin Media in broadcasting all of the remaining live Premiership football matches this season.
