BT, Discovery begin talks to create UK sports joint venture
Details
Joseph O'Halloran
| 03 February 2022
After a swirl of rumour suggesting it was about to offload its sports TV division to a streaming provider, BT Group has confirmed that has entered exclusive discussions with Discovery to create a new sport and entertainment offering for customers in the UK.
bt sport studios 3Feb2022
The discussions come after what the incumbent telco says was a “detailed process” to identify the best way to generate investment and strengthen its Sports business which has long been rumoured to be a candidate for sale as BT Group focusses on fibre and 5G.

The prosed deal with Discovery would be a 50/50 joint venture, bringing together BT Sport with Eurosport UK. The new business would remain committed to retaining BT Sport’s existing major sports broadcast rights – including UEFA Champions League and Premier League football among others - while BT Sport customers would get access to Discovery’s sport and entertainment content, including the discovery+ app.

Commenting on the discussions, BT Consumer CEO Marc Allera said: “The proposed joint venture with Discovery, Inc. would create an exciting new sports broadcasting entity for the UK and would act as a perfect home for our BT Sport business. With a shared ambition for growth, as well as the combination of our world class sports assets along with Discovery’s premium sports and entertainment content, our customers will benefit from even more content in more places.”

“We are excited about this opportunity with BT Group to offer consumers a stronger and simplified combined sport offering in the UK and Ireland, and, more broadly, to advance our strategy of bringing sports and entertainment to more consumers on the platform of their choice,” added JB Perrette, President and CEO of Discovery Streaming & International. “We are aligned with BT Group on a shared vision to maximise the value and appeal of our respective UK sport assets, and we look forward to concluding a deal in the coming weeks.”

BT said it is aiming to conclude the exclusive discussions with Discovery in early Q1 for the new company to be operational later this year, subject to completion of the deal and approval by the relevant competition authorities.

As it was revealing news of the deal, BT published a trading update results for the nine months to 31 December 2021. It reported that for the period total revenues fell 2% on an annual basis to £15.676 billion, driven by declines primarily in the Global and Enterprise business lines partly offset by growth in the Openreach broadband provision division. The latter’s wholesale pricing offer saw a record-breaking quarter in full-fibre build and a 37% increase in FTTP connections.