BT Sport taps Paywizard pay-per-view purchase technology
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Editor
| 14 February 2019

As it furthers its reach on multiple platforms, leading UK pay-TV provider BT Sport has chosen subscription, billing and CRM specialist Paywizard to deliver pay-per-view purchase and entitlement management and support.

The technology will see use for PPV events broadcast via the Sky UK pay-TV service which BT Sport has rights to show following a cross-supply deal signed in 2018. The solution is currently live and has been deployed to support a number of high-profile PPV events such as boxing bouts between Canelo Álvarez and Gennady Golovkin, the recent heavyweight world title showdown between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury and world featherweight clash between Josh Warrington and Carl Frampton. These were shown on the dedicated pay-per-view channel, BT Sport Box Office HD.

Based on the Paywizard Agile platform, the service enables both BT Sport's existing subscribers and non-BT Sport subscribers with a Sky Box to sign up for sporting events that will be available via PPV. The platform is said to be able to deliver rapid scaling to allow for the processing of large transactional volumes that can often occur due to last-minute sign-up for high profile PPV events. Paywizard will also provide BT Sport with a full subscriber onboarding service including conditional access management, billing, and multi-channel technical support across telephone, webchat and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

“We ran our first PPV event almost 20 years ago and over that time have built an amazing understanding of what it takes to manage events where the majority of buys come in the last few hours,” said Paywizard chief executive Bhavesh Vaghela. “With growing consumer demand for new PPV events, we look forward to working closely with BT Sport to acquire more customers, drive revenue and deliver success into the future.”

“Ensuring a great customer experience is a critical part of our PPV offering and Paywizard’s experience as a leader in delivering these type of streamlined enablement services made them a natural fit for this partnership,” added BT Sport chief operating officer Jamie Hindhaugh. “Their scalable platform and deep technical capabilities provide us with a seamless experience for both our own subscribers and Sky customers to access high quality PPV with ease.”