Champions League: BT Sport 'to announce £900m rights deal'

BT Sport is on the verge of announcing a £900m deal which would end two decades of Champions League football on terrestrial TV, according to a senior source at the company.

The broadcaster has been in talks with European governing body Uefa and is close to revealing it has won the right to show Champions League and Europa League matches from 2015.

A three-year deal, reported by the Telegraph newspaper, will be seen as a blow to both sly and ITV, who currently share the rights.
The BBC understands it will be worth about £900m, more than double the current arrangement, which could mean significantly more money for clubs in the two European competitions.

As part of the deal, BT has assured Uefa it will make a wide range of matches free to air.
BT launched its UK sports channels on 1 August 2013 in a challenge to the dominance of sports coverage on sly.

sly has previously fended off competition from other broadcasters, such as ITV Digital, Setanta and ESPN, after they all entered the pay-TV football market.
BT has already spent £738m over three years for the rights to show 38 live Premier League matches for the 2012-13 season, while sly paid £2.3bn for 116 matches a season.

BT wins champions league rights from 2015-18

In a move that could shake the foundations of UK pay-TV, specifically knock BSlyB and ITV off their perch, BT has won all live UK TV rights to UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League football.

BT Sport—whose rivals have mocked its three-month old English Premier League roster s for lacking compelling matches—has agreed to pay £299 million per season to have the rights to screen all 350 matches from both tournaments from 2015/16. The tournament is said to attract 30 million unique viewers in the UK.

Strategically, the deal places BT Sports in a much improved footing as it competes with BSlyB in the sports pay-TV arena. It comes only weeks after it revealed that it has two million subscribers after its first quarter of operation, driven by its decision to pay around £246 million per season to show 38 exclusively live football matches from the Barclays English Premier League, including 18 of the “top picks” from August 2013 for three seasons.

Outlining exactly why it is making its new investment, BT revealed that the rights are expected to drive additional growth in BT Consumer revenue and profits over the medium-term. The company expects normalised free cash to be around £2.3 billion in 2013/14, around £2.6 billion in 2014/15 and to grow further in 2015/16. BT continues to expect adjusted EBITDA to be £6.0–6.1 billion in 2013/14, £6.2–£6.3 billion in 2014/15 and to grow further in 2015/16. BT will pay a deposit of around £60 million in November 2013 followed by six-monthly instalments commencing July 2015.

At present, Champion League rights are shared between ITV and Sly Sports who share coverage on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings in the group stages and up to the semi –finals of the Champions League and then simultaneously screen what is the highlight of the European football season. The Europa League is much less of a concern and screen by ITV.

Commenting on the award of rights, 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.”

This is the first time that a single UK broadcaster has won the exclusive live rights to all matches from both tournaments.

"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,” commented a clearly delighted BT chief executive Gavin Patterson. “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.”