BT Sport

[BcastCornwall]

Telegraph reporting tonight that BT is looking to offer a stake in the business to others, Amazon and Disney being mentioned.

[nwtv2003]

As the Telegraph’s site is paywalled, I can’t access the article. But the headline and the analysis seem to be taking the tone that BT is stepping back from Sport, possibly to please shareholders. Without seeing the article it’s hard to judge.

Regardless of that Amazon or Disney would make sense, as they have both been involved with BT Sport in some or other in the last few years. But given the move towards on demand, would Amazon really want to buy a stake in the channel? Would Disney want to considering they exited the UK market by offloading it to BT in the first place. Would there be anything to stop Sky taking a stake?

Let’s see how this one plays out.

[Rdd]

Very interesting if true.

ESPN only got out, if you recall, because they lost the Premier League rights to BT, after which they sold the U.K. operation lock stock and barrel to BT, which was how BT Sport was able to launch with a full schedule and in progress contracts for things like the FA Cup and Europa League. They’ve had a partnership throughout and BT Sport ESPN has effectively been an part affiliate of ESPN US in some ways, taking most of its college sports programming. So it would make sense, in a lot of ways, for ESPN to re-enter the market this way.

Amazon...would they want to take on this big a linear undertaking? Would be a big move into traditional broadcast TV which would be a departure for them. Whether they might be interested, instead of taking a stake, in buying certain rights might be interesting.

DAZN? Can they afford it? Would BT Sport’s existing commitments (particularly if it comes with three more years of FAPL) not mean they would have to price themselves at a significantly more expensive price than their “Netflix of Sport” tag line would suggest?

[Omnipresent]

Neil Henderson has tweeted the story as it appeared on the front page of the Telegraph business section (you can read it if you zoom in on the image):

https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/13...45120?s=21

[BcastCornwall]

Stockmarket Statement

Further to media reports, BT can confirm that early discussions are being held with a number of select strategic partners, to explore ways to generate investment, strengthen our sports business, and help take it to the next stage in its growth. The discussions are confidential and may or may not lead to an outcome.

[FrancisC]

Bloomberg article regarding BT Sport confirming reports:https://twitter.com/TW_Seal/status/1387676356595617794?s=20

[RegularCapital]

Managed to read The Telegraph article via Google: Disney (ESPN), DAZN and Amazon were listed on the article as potential buyers.

Here's another non-paywall article: https://deadline.com/2021/04/amazon-disn...234746388/

If Disney buys it, they could launch ESPN+ in the UK with a bundle option with Disney+ and might even make a distribution deal with BT TV for it as well as Disney+. ESPN were the channels' original owners and there's already the existing BT Sport ESPN channel through a brand licencing agreement.

DAZN is becoming a rapidly growing force in sports streaming, so it's obvious that they would be interested.

Amazon has tons of cash and subscribers already watch live football through Prime Video.

[thegeek]

ESPN were the channels' original owners and there's already the existing BT Sport ESPN channel through a brand licencing agreement.

That's not quite right. After BT won a package of Premier League rights in late 2012 (taking over the mantle of the 'not Sky' broadcaster from ESPN), they went on a spending spree and bought rights to various other leagues and sports also previously held by ESPN. At the start of 2013, they bought the rump of the channel from Disney, with its remaining UK rights, plus a content deal for the US sport which Disney owns worldwide rights for, and a licence to use the ESPN brand.

[RegularCapital]

ESPN were the channels' original owners and there's already the existing BT Sport ESPN channel through a brand licencing agreement.

That's not quite right. After BT won a package of Premier League rights in late 2012 (taking over the mantle of the 'not Sky' broadcaster from ESPN), they went on a spending spree and bought rights to various other leagues and sports also previously held by ESPN. At the start of 2013, they bought the rump of the channel from Disney, with its remaining UK rights, plus a content deal for the US sport which Disney owns worldwide rights for, and a licence to use the ESPN brand.

Yes, which led to BT buying out ESPN UK as ESPN were reconsidering their position in the UK market (with exception to ESPN Classic which just closed). They were outbid on rights for over 38 Premier League matches over three seasons, BT Sport soon followed.

[thegeek]

But it doesn't follow that 'ESPN were the channels' original owners'. BT Sport ESPN has some lineage though its licence but the other channels were set up by BT outright. (BT Sport 1 as Sailing 1 as BT Sport 2 as Sailing 2 for slot-sitting purposes, if anyone's interested).

[caseyref]

I know they are not in any of the articles as speculated buyers, but would ITV be interested in the BT Sport channels?

Looking at their interest in setting up Box Office channels in the past, I'm sure they could be looking for a way to extend their portfolio and grow the services that customers have to subscribe to such as BritBox and ITV Hub.

[RegularCapital]

But it doesn't follow that 'ESPN were the channels' original owners'. BT Sport ESPN has some lineage though its licence but the other channels were set up by BT outright. (BT Sport 1 as Sailing 1 as BT Sport 2 as Sailing 2 for slot-sitting purposes, if anyone's interested).

As in "channels", I was referring to the business itself, I guess I just worded it wrongly.

I know they are not in any of the articles as speculated buyers, but would ITV be interested in the BT Sport channels?

Looking at their interest in setting up Box Office channels in the past, I'm sure they could be looking for a way to extend their portfolio and grow the services that customers have to subscribe to such as BritBox and ITV Hub.

Would football clubs trust ITV again after what happened with the collapse of ITV Digital and would ITV re-enter the sports channels market? (excluding the time ITV Box Office was available). At least, that's now a long time ago after all and ITV is now on a much more solid unified foundation, had their trust regained and have done a lot more with sport since then. So ITV might actually could give it a second shot.

[AllWillBeWell]

Wow did not see that coming.

[caseyref]

Would football clubs trust ITV again after what happened with the collapse of ITV Digital and would ITV re-enter the sports channels market? (excluding the time ITV Box Office was available). At least, that's now a long time ago after all and ITV is now on a much more solid unified foundation, had their trust regained and have done a lot more with sport since then. So ITV might actually could give it a second shot.

I think that ITV is a more stable business now so hopefully football clubs would trust them more now. I only mention ITV as this BBC News article (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56901387) mentions a British Broadcaster is interested, outside of Sky I can't think of anyone else.

If Sky was interested and tried to buy BT Sport operations, would there be a competition challenge from the CMA? Surely Sky couldn't hold nearly all football rights?

[RR]

Re ITV - sports bodies would be advised to get a guarantee for any contracts from the parent organization - something that didn't exist in the Football League / ITV Digital era - I'd be surprised if that wasn't widespread anyway (for all not just ITV) these days following that history.