DV
Deal done, FTA component confirmed. I suspect that this will be BT's coverage retransmitted on Channel Four considering their already developing links.
Official BT PR
here ……..
NEWS on BTPLC.COM
09-Nov-2013 @ 10:14
Official BT PR
here ……..
NEWS on BTPLC.COM
09-Nov-2013 @ 10:14
Last edited by DVB Cornwall on 9 November 2013 10:16am - 2 times in total
:-(
A former member
http://sport.bt.com/sportfootball/football/bt-sport-wins-all-live-uk-tv-rights-to-uefa-champions-league-and-uefa-europa-league-S11363847946944
BT Sport announce the acquisition of exclusive live rights to all 350 matches a season for three years from 2015/16. Both finals to be free on BT Sport, as well as top matches from earlier rounds.
BT Sport will be the new UK home of UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League football, following an tender process in which BT won the exclusive live broadcast rights to all 350 matches from both tournaments. The rights run for three seasons from 2015/16.
This is the first time a single UK broadcaster has won the exclusive live rights to all matches from both tournaments. The hundreds of additional top tier matches will boost BT Sport and make it the natural home for football fans who wish to see the very best European sides pitted against each other.
BT has agreed to pay around £299 million a season for the rights, an amount it today said it can incur without changing its current financial outlook (see details at the end of this release).
BT has shaken up the UK TV market with BT Sport and it today pledged to make its new matches far more accessible and affordable for fans who wish to enjoy all the action. It also announced it will show a selection of these new matches for free on BT Sport, even to homes that have not signed up to the channels.
The finals of each tournament will be showcased in this fashion along with a selection of top matches from earlier rounds. Fans will also be delighted to know that each participating British team will feature for free at least once each season.
BT Sport already boasts a very strong line-up of live sport coverage from Fridays to Sundays and the new mid-week games will ensure the channels are even stronger, with fantastic live football being broadcast regularly throughout the week.
Gavin Patterson, BT chief executive, said today: "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. 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.”
"BT Sport has got off to a strong start with customers enjoying what we have to offer. We have attracted millions of customers by giving sport back to the fans, and we can assure people who want to catch all the action, that European football will be far more accessible and affordable with BT.”
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.”
The UEFA Champions League, which features the top Barclays Premier League football teams, is an incredibly popular tournament with the total UK audience being around 30 million viewers on average in recent seasons . In addition to the top teams from England, Celtic have also featured, having qualified for the main stages of the tournament via earlier rounds.
The UEFA Europa League, which was won last season by Chelsea, currently features the fifth placed Barclays Premier League team as well as the winners of the FA Cup and League Cup. Teams that drop out of the UEFA Champions League group stages also feature in the tournament.
BT Sport is the UK's newest and most vibrant sports TV service, with three channels showing live top tier action from the Barclays Premier League and the Aviva Premiership as well as a host of other sport. BT has more than two million customers who take the service and the channels reach around four million homes when BT’s wholesale deal with Virgin Media is taken into account.
It is also the home for top European league football, showing regular live matches from Germany's Bundesliga, France's Ligue1 and Italy's Serie A. This means many of the stars who will feature in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League will already be familiar to BT Sport viewers.
BT Sport is free to BT Broadband customers in the UK, with live and catch-up programming available via BT TV, Sky and Virgin Media. Live and catch-up content is also available to BT broadband customers via BTSport.com and the BT Sport mobile and tablet apps.
BT Sport announce the acquisition of exclusive live rights to all 350 matches a season for three years from 2015/16. Both finals to be free on BT Sport, as well as top matches from earlier rounds.
BT Sport will be the new UK home of UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League football, following an tender process in which BT won the exclusive live broadcast rights to all 350 matches from both tournaments. The rights run for three seasons from 2015/16.
This is the first time a single UK broadcaster has won the exclusive live rights to all matches from both tournaments. The hundreds of additional top tier matches will boost BT Sport and make it the natural home for football fans who wish to see the very best European sides pitted against each other.
BT has agreed to pay around £299 million a season for the rights, an amount it today said it can incur without changing its current financial outlook (see details at the end of this release).
BT has shaken up the UK TV market with BT Sport and it today pledged to make its new matches far more accessible and affordable for fans who wish to enjoy all the action. It also announced it will show a selection of these new matches for free on BT Sport, even to homes that have not signed up to the channels.
The finals of each tournament will be showcased in this fashion along with a selection of top matches from earlier rounds. Fans will also be delighted to know that each participating British team will feature for free at least once each season.
BT Sport already boasts a very strong line-up of live sport coverage from Fridays to Sundays and the new mid-week games will ensure the channels are even stronger, with fantastic live football being broadcast regularly throughout the week.
Gavin Patterson, BT chief executive, said today: "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. 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.”
"BT Sport has got off to a strong start with customers enjoying what we have to offer. We have attracted millions of customers by giving sport back to the fans, and we can assure people who want to catch all the action, that European football will be far more accessible and affordable with BT.”
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.”
The UEFA Champions League, which features the top Barclays Premier League football teams, is an incredibly popular tournament with the total UK audience being around 30 million viewers on average in recent seasons . In addition to the top teams from England, Celtic have also featured, having qualified for the main stages of the tournament via earlier rounds.
The UEFA Europa League, which was won last season by Chelsea, currently features the fifth placed Barclays Premier League team as well as the winners of the FA Cup and League Cup. Teams that drop out of the UEFA Champions League group stages also feature in the tournament.
BT Sport is the UK's newest and most vibrant sports TV service, with three channels showing live top tier action from the Barclays Premier League and the Aviva Premiership as well as a host of other sport. BT has more than two million customers who take the service and the channels reach around four million homes when BT’s wholesale deal with Virgin Media is taken into account.
It is also the home for top European league football, showing regular live matches from Germany's Bundesliga, France's Ligue1 and Italy's Serie A. This means many of the stars who will feature in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League will already be familiar to BT Sport viewers.
BT Sport is free to BT Broadband customers in the UK, with live and catch-up programming available via BT TV, Sky and Virgin Media. Live and catch-up content is also available to BT broadband customers via BTSport.com and the BT Sport mobile and tablet apps.
SE
Square Eyes
Founding member
Well that's a total collapse of ITV Sport portfolio in a short period.
Does the football investment get reinvested back into the programme budget as there are few sports rights available any more ?
Does the football investment get reinvested back into the programme budget as there are few sports rights available any more ?
IS
What do ITV have left? Didn't they ditch the F1 in order to concentrate on all the football they have just lost?
JA
Yep, looks like that was a blunder in hindsight.
What do ITV have left? Didn't they ditch the F1 in order to concentrate on all the football they have just lost?
:-(
A former member
Euro and world cups to look forward to 
SE
Yep, looks like that was a blunder in hindsight.
Not really, it allowed then to secure their football rights in the previous round.
What does seem a mistake is letting FA Cup go, to focus on this Champions League round.
BT is the big game changer, ITV can't compete with them & Sky so they'll have to settle for picking up rights to the events with protected status.
Square Eyes
Founding member
What do ITV have left? Didn't they ditch the F1 in order to concentrate on all the football they have just lost?
Not really, it allowed then to secure their football rights in the previous round.
What does seem a mistake is letting FA Cup go, to focus on this Champions League round.
BT is the big game changer, ITV can't compete with them & Sky so they'll have to settle for picking up rights to the events with protected status.
DV
Statement on UEFA Website ....
UEFA has announced a landmark deal with BT Sport for the 2015–18 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League media rights in the United Kingdom.
Live, delayed and highlights coverage of both competitions will be broadcast across pay channels BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN. Rights to highlights programmes have been awarded on a co-exclusive basis.
In addition, BT Sport will make certain matches available for free across both competitions throughout the season on its recently launched BT Sport-branded channels. As a result, football fans in every television-owning household in the UK will have access to these games. In line with UEFA's platform-neutral approach, matches will also be available on sport.bt.com and via mobile.
Commenting on the awarding of these 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."
An announcement on the awarding of co-exclusive highlights rights in respect of both competitions will be made in due course. UEFA would like to take this opportunity to thank current live rights holders, Sky Sports and ITV, for their outstanding contribution to the club competitions.
here ……..
EVENTS on UEFA.ORG
09-Nov-2013 @ 11:11
UEFA has announced a landmark deal with BT Sport for the 2015–18 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League media rights in the United Kingdom.
Live, delayed and highlights coverage of both competitions will be broadcast across pay channels BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN. Rights to highlights programmes have been awarded on a co-exclusive basis.
In addition, BT Sport will make certain matches available for free across both competitions throughout the season on its recently launched BT Sport-branded channels. As a result, football fans in every television-owning household in the UK will have access to these games. In line with UEFA's platform-neutral approach, matches will also be available on sport.bt.com and via mobile.
Commenting on the awarding of these 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."
An announcement on the awarding of co-exclusive highlights rights in respect of both competitions will be made in due course. UEFA would like to take this opportunity to thank current live rights holders, Sky Sports and ITV, for their outstanding contribution to the club competitions.
here ……..
EVENTS on UEFA.ORG
09-Nov-2013 @ 11:11
:-(
A former member
Can BT recoup ANY of the money its spent? or is this is a numbers game?