BT TV customers with a BT Vision+ box "can now get Sky Sports 5 along with Sky Sports 1 and 2," according to Thomas Newton of RECOMBU. A last minute deal with Sky "sees the new European football channel arriving on BT just as the new channel launches." Previously, it looked like BT TV customers were not "going to be able to get the new channel." Sky, Virgin Media and Now TV customers "were all in line to get Sky Sports 5 from launch when it was announced." While Sky Sports 1 and 2 are available on their own for £15.50 ($26) a month on BT TV, there is currently "no way to get Sky Sports 5 individually." It is only available as part of the £21 ($35) bundle, but there is "no extra cost for the new channel" (RECOMBU, 8/12). In London, Simon Rice wrote Sky Sports 5 will be "the new home of European football on Sky" -- although why any of Sky Sports 1-4 could not have been used for the job (as they have been before today) "is not altogether clear." But "you probably knew that anyway" -- Sky Sports' publicity "has been as abundant as it's been daft." It started with "an oddly muted David Beckham featuring in an advert at the Sky Sports 'research centre.'" Since then, "things have got weirder." Today five portraits by renowned art forger John Myatt "were released." Steven Gerrard, Andres Iniesta, Andrea Pirlo, Arjen Robben and Cristiano Ronaldo "have been painted in the style of painters from their homeland, from Vincent van Gogh to Pablo Picasso" (INDEPENDENT, 8/12).
