Cable-TV Provider BT Vision Plans To Roll Out Up To Three New Sports Channels

British cable-TV provider BT Vision "is planning to roll out as many as three TV channels to broadcast the football, rugby and other sports content it has acquired for almost £1B ($1.6B) in recent months," according to Daniel Thomas of the FINANCIAL TIMES. The U.K. telecom group, which is close to signing up to rent a large studio in the former Int'l Broadcast Center in the Olympic Park at Stratford, east London, "is planning at least two sports channels." It is also "considering a third channel to broadcast other content including on-demand programmes and one-off pay-per-view games." Those with knowledge of the plans said that the volume of the sports acquired by BT "requires multiple channels to avoid clashes, while market testing has shown that viewers see a greater value for money in such a proposition." It would be similar to Sky Sports, which operates five core sports channels. BT "is expected" to base its sports operations in Olympic Park (FINANCIAL TIMES, 11/19).