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BT Forced To Charge Customers For Sports Channels To Recoup Rights Money

BT is to start charging its TV customers to watch its sports channels -- for the first time since the service launched four years ago -- "as it looks to claw back its investment in expensive rights packages," according to David Bond of the FINANCIAL TIMES. From August, BT’s 1.68 million BT TV subscribers will have to pay £3.50 ($4.33) per month to access the channels, "whose main attractions are live Premier League and Champions League football." The TV price rise was "accompanied by a separate" £1.50 ($1.86) increase for BT broadband subscribers who access its TV services, taking their total cost to £7.50 ($9.29) per month. While BT said that the new charge for its sports channels was “good value,” some analysts "questioned whether it might persuade some users to switch off." Raymond James telecom analyst Thibault de Coincy said, "The risk is that some people are going to have to choose, and BT does not have the strongest content." BT paid £900M ($1.11B) for the exclusive U.K. rights to the Champions League until Aug. '18 and £960M ($1.2B) for a three-year deal to screen 42 Premier League matches per season until '19. In addition, BT "recently bought the rights to show live Test match cricket for the first time," signing a deal with Cricket Australia that includes the '17-18 Ashes series against England (FT, 1/20).

REMATCH: In London, Christopher Williams reported BT and Sky have "kicked off in a big-money rematch over Champions League football after UEFA issued a delayed invitation to tender for rights" to broadcast European club tournaments. The rivals will submit first round bids in March, "with Sky vying to win back the Champions League three years after BT shocked it" by agreeing to an exclusive £900M deal with UEFA that also included the secondary Europa League competition. The bidding "will take place against the backdrop" of 21st Century Fox’s £11.7B ($14.5B) bid for full control of Sky. The planned takeover has "fuelled market speculation that Sky could seek to use financial security and international scale of Fox to convince UEFA to sell its rights on a pan-European or even global basis, locking out its rivals in the UK, Germany and Italy." Such a multi-country deal "could also provide a launchpad for its streaming service Now TV in new markets." Sky is "already preparing to enter the fray in Spain" (TELEGRAPH, 1/21).

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