BT's TV Business Adds 60,000 Customers In Q1, Reports BT Sport Viewership Up 50%

BT's TV business "saw its best performance in nearly two years in the first quarter," adding 60,000 customers before the launch of its expanded sports offerings including Champions League football, according to Robert Cookson of the FINANCIAL TIMES. The company has been "investing heavily in sports rights in order to challenge Sky in the pay-TV market" and to bolster its broadband business. It said that daily viewing figures for BT Sport were up 50% in the three months to June. BT signed up more than 100,000 consumer mobile customers in the first three months "without any advertising." However, BT's group revenue fell 2% to £4.28B ($6.68B) in the quarter, "slightly below analyst expectations" (FT, 7/30). MARKETWATCH's Simon Zekaria reported in the fight with rivals to "offer a full range of telephony and media services, BT has paid billions of dollars" to secure key exclusive live English and European football TV rights to "bulk up its sports channels." BT's sports-broadcasting platform is "key to its core broadband business and to plans to compensate for declining fixed-line telephony customers," which is bringing "stiff competition to the pay-TV market" (MARKETWATCH, 7/30).