BT Vision Kicks Off Bid To Attract Sports Fans With Agency Hunt

BT has launched a communications hunt thought to be worth up to £3M ($4.7M) as it "prepares for a huge investment in sport to boost its struggling digital TV service," according to John Owens of PR WEEK. BT has launched a multi-million-pound pitch process for pay-TV service BT Vision as it "attempts to increase its below-target subscriber numbers." The brief seeks to capitalize on BT’s £738M ($1.2B) deal to screen Premier League football over the next three seasons and the '13 launch of channels BT Sport 1 and 2, with a third sport channel "rumoured to be in the pipeline." A senior agency source said that sport would be "positioned at the centre of the firm’s TV proposition, as part of a wider effort to draw in customers through bundles of broadband, TV, telephone and mobile by one provider." It is thought that initial comm work "will focus on the build-up and launch of the two channels" -- set to go live next summer -- as well as "promoting the channels for a further six months" (PR WEEK, 11/21).