BT Sport win rights to champions league & Europa league from 2015

[Wsussexspur]

BT Sport is close to finalising a deal with Uefa to broadcast Champions League matches from 2015, according to reports. An anticipated three-year agreement would also lead to the company showing Europa League fixtures.

If BT Sport succeeds in gaining exclusive rights to Champions League games in the UK, it would deal a significant blow to Sky and ITV, the existing rights holders. It would also take the tournament off free-to-air television for the first time, unless BT Sport followed its Premier League lead and made some matches available to non-subscribers.

The Times and Telegraph report that BT Sport, which entered the football market this season by purchasing the rights to Premier League games, is in final negotiations with European football's governing body and that those look almost certain to conclude successfully.

The Times says the deal would be worth almost £1bn. BT Sport has paid £738m for three years of Premier League rights.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/nov/09/bt-sport-deal-champions-league-rights

Think this has just been confirmed! Massive blow for Sky. But thank god though that's another contract ITV have lost! Think they just have the England games now.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

This is a disaster for me. I do not have BT Sport and I am not really prepared to pay for it. If we get into the CL and they start showing our games in the CL and PL on BT Sport, I may have no choice, which would piss me off.

 

[Scarlet57]

Very disappointing.

 

[tiger666]

No wonder illegal streams are so popular. It gets harder and more expensive to watch football.

 

[UncleBuck]

Disgrace, UEFA keep saying they want to take the game to the masses and then they find yet another way to line their pockets.
We shouldn't be surprised though unfortunately....

 

[riggi]

Pub

 

[yawa]

UK just seems to be catching up with the rest of the world when it comes to cable television and so this is no surprise.

 

[tommyt]

Fuck Sky.

 

[worcestersauce]

I blame sky, they started it, they've been fleecing people for years. Why don't they include the sports channels in the basic package?

 

[Hitch]

Hate this news if true. First of all because I'm already shelling out for enough packages as it is. Also though because I think Sky do a fantastic job with their CL coverage and don't want to see it leave them for that reason.

From what I've seen of BT their pundits are extremely weak (granted sky have Redknapp and Yorke, but that aside their CL line ups are generally very strong).

 

[worcestersauce]

does this mean all CL or just the rights to share?

 

[Dare!]

Fair play to them for being this ambitious but its a real shame there won't be any European football on terrestrial TV.

 

[Huddlestone22]

I'm honestly quite fond of Sky's CL coverage. Having that drone Owen commentating will put me off.

 

[deadlight]

Well I got broadband from BT in the summer and have BT Sport for free

 

[Lufti]

They'll have to set up more channels then surely - or a red button service because they can only show 3 games at a time as it stands now..

 

[yawa]

I blame sky, they started it, they've been fleecing people for years. Why don't they include the sports channels in the basic package?

Well people can't have it all. Without Sky the premiership wouldn't be where it is today and as competitive as it is. They brought the money to the league which made it what it is today.

 

[Yid121]

Well I got broadband from BT in the summer and have BT Sport for free

Haha same. I was quite happy about this but if I hadn't have joined BT I'd be pissed!

 

[Hoddle&Waddle]

great news as I have BT sports!, not bothered about the ITV thing because they only get 1 leg of a 2 leg match, so you cant even watch the whole story of a match.

 

[Oshi]

The less of Redknapp and that arse hole Yorke the better.

Pissed off about potentially having to pay more, might not bother, 2/3 of the competition isn't worth watching anyway.

 

[Darth Vega]

If they stick to their word and undercut Sky then this is no bad thing. To have all the games at an apparently affordable price sounds good to me and hopefully BT will have improved their coverage by then because Sky are streets ahead of them in that department, well except for Jamie Redknapp anyway.

No football on terrestrial TV is a shame but its no surprise. It's good to finally see someone take on Sky. Competition is exactly what this industry needs. The reason Sky are so expensive is cause no-one's had the balls or financial power to properly challenge them...until now. Sky will be forced to drop their prices to compete.