BT Sport
Latest
Warner Bros. Discovery and BT are forming a massive sports TV business
Eurosport and BT Sport will be merged under a single brand in the future.
BT outbowls Sky to show England's next Ashes series
The 2015 Ashes series may only have concluded yesterday (with England retaining the urn), but broadcasters are already focusing their attention to the next round of tests in two winters' time. After stealing a significant chunk of Sky's prized football coverage away, BT announced today that it's won the rights to the 2017-18 Ashes series, dealing a heavy blow to its rival in the process. As part of its bid, the company secured access to Australian International Cricket and KFC Big Bash League matches from 2016 to 2021, which will include the five all-important Ashes matches in late 2017.
BT's Ultra HD box now available to order online
When the Premier League kicks off again in two weeks, we'll see new teams and fresh faces, but there'll also be a new way to catch the action as it unfolds. That's all thanks to BT's new Ultra HD box, which will offer coverage of Saturday evening and mid-week matches in glorious 4K. While the new Humax-made YouView box has been available to purchase over the phone for around a week, BT has today opened up online orders, making it much easier to get your living room ready for when Arsenal meet Chelsea in the FA Community Shield on August 2nd and the lunchtime kickoff between Manchester United and Tottenham on August 8th.
Virgin Media ups XL TV price by £3 for Champions League footy
When BT finally announced how much it would charge customers to access its new European football channel, Virgin Media remained quiet on whether those overheads would be passed onto customers. The cable broadcaster has offered BT Sport's original two channels for no additional cost as part of its TV XL packages, but from September 1st, subscribers will be asked to pay £3 a month extra even if they don't want to watch Champions League matches.
BT's launching an Ultra HD box to host Europe's first 4K TV channel
While BT will begin charging Sky subscribers for access to Champions League football next season, the company may soon ask for more money from existing customers too. It's for a good reason, though: the company has said it will launch the first 4K channel in Europe in August, called BT Sport Ultra HD, delivering selected matches from the Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League and Aviva Premiership Rugby. As you'd expect, these broadcasts won't work on BT's existing hardware, so it'll introduce a new BT TV Ultra HD set-top box to do the heavy lifting.
Virgin Media fails to stop the Premier League's next TV rights auction
Virgin Media really doesn't like the way Premier League TV rights are auctioned in the UK. It's already filed a complaint with Ofcom, which argued that the skyrocketing bids from Sky and BT, coupled with the low number of televised fixtures, is having a knock-on effect for the consumer. In addition, it says it's restricting real competition in the TV market, which only exasperates the problem. Ofcom agreed to look into the matter, but was that good enough for Virgin Media? Not quite. You see, the Premier League is thought to be pushing ahead with its next TV rights auction, which means Ofcom probably won't make a decision until after it's all been tied up. The new bidding is for the 2016-19 seasons, so the concern was that any Ofcom ruling wouldn't take effect for four years. Virgin Media has therefore pushed the regulator to take "interim measures" that would put the auction on hold.
BT Sport claims it's now in more pubs than Sky Sports
A few years ago, if you were a pub landlord and wanted to provide your customers with live sports coverage, you'd just stump up the cash for Sky Sports and be done with it. However, now that BT Sport has emerged as a genuine alternative, publicans have more choice over what they can show. The telecoms giant is often keen to gloat when it has one over its rival, so it's today sharing news that its sport channels are now live in more UK pubs than Sky Sports. According to an independent survey, BT Sport is now live in 7,200 public houses, making up 30 percent of its total commercial subscriptions.
Sky Sports 5 launches as a dedicated channel for European football
Sky may have lost its crown jewels to BT Sport, but the company isn't prepared to sit idly by in its last year as the UK's top football dog. The broadcaster is launching Sky Sports 5, with an offer of two years free broadband to any and all Sky Sports customers. The seventh Sky Sports channel will be geared towards European football, including the Champions League, Spanish and Italian domestic cups, as well as the Dutch Eredivisie. The channel will launch on August 12th, and will also be available to customers who subscribe through Virgin Media. What was it they said about "the enemy of my enemy is my friend?"
You can now stream BT Sport on Google Chromecast
The US may have beaten the UK to the punch on Chromecast hardware, but us Brits now have access to another thing the Americans don't: live premiership football. Following news that it was expanding its apps to support the £30 streaming accessory, BT today switched live the necessary features to allow Sport subscribers to beam content from their iOS or Android device directly to their TV. Of course, you will need a BT Broadband package or be BT Sport subscriber to gain access to the live streams. If you've already met that requirement, then it's a simple case of hitting the "Cast" button in either of BT's official apps to enjoy football, rugby, Moto GP, tennis or UFC coverage on your nice big flatscreen.
BT Sport steals Sky's crown jewel, gets exclusive rights to the Champions League in 2015
Do you like to spend huge sums on Sky Sports just to catch the big moments in European football? Well, in the biggest thing to happen to UK broadcasting in years, BT Sport has outbid (by a considerable margin) both Sky and ITV for the exclusive rights to show both Champions and Europa League matches between 2015-2018. It's a huge coup for the nascent broadcaster, and a statement of intent that it doesn't want to become the next ITV Digital. What this means for consumers, of course, is that £22-a-month Sky Sports subscription (on top of the £21 you pay for the basic package) just took a big hit in value, and that if you want to see the world's biggest game, you're gonna have to buy a BT Sport subscription.
