Jeremy Darroch, chief executive of B***B, has tried to allay investor fears of a major rights fight with BT. He told an investor conference in Spain that *** was happy to make a wholesale deal to ensure subscribers would still be able to access content. He added higher subscription prices would ensure maintained profitability.
Responding to investor fears, Darroch highlighted investments in *** Atlantic and movies. “The journey at *** since day one has been to broaden out and do new things,” he said. “While sport is very, very important to ***, it’s just one of the things that we do.”
The Champions League rights currently cost *** £80 million (€94m) a year, which Darroch said would be reinvested in other programming.
He also said there was a “very strong” opportunity for *** to charge more in spite of political debate about the cost of living in the UK. *** had only increased prices by 4 per cent in recent years, while the wider market had seen inflation of 10 per cent, he said. It typically raises prices in September or October.
http://advanced-television.com/2013/11/20/***-happy-to-wholesale-bt-sport-and-raise-prices/
