TNT Sports goes live
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Editor
| 18 July 2023
Almost 18 months after Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group began talks to form a joint venture company creating a new premium sport offering for the UK and Ireland, the new TNT Sports has come into service.
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Replacing BT Sport, TNT Sports is promising to become the ultimate home for sport fans, and claims that its launch heralds the most significant change in the sports broadcast landscape in the last decade marking the the start of a new relationship with sports fans.

The new service will feature a new and contemporary brand, a new line-up of talent, and what is said to be an enhanced value proposition for customers and flexible ways to purchase and watch. TNT Sports will present the premium live sports rights previously carried by BT Sport including the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Europa Conference League, Gallagher Premiership Rugby, Heineken Champions Cup, EPCR Challenge Cup, MotoGP, Cricket, UFC, Boxing and WWE.

In addition to the launch of a new brand, the discovery+ platform will become the new streaming destination for TNT Sports in the UK. discovery+ will present sports events together with entertainment under a new Premium plan, priced at £29.99 per month, which is the same price as was previously charged for a BT Sport Monthly Pass. The service also offers access to action from TNT Sports’ and Eurosport’s portfolios of live rights plus discovery+ entertainment content.

Taken together with Eurosport on discovery+, subscribers will also have access to the Olympic Games Paris 2024, Grand Slam tennis tournaments (featuring the Australian Open and Roland-Garros) and cycling Grand Tours, including the Tour de France. TNT Sports will also be available across all major TV platforms including BT TV, Sky and Virgin Media. Existing BT Sport customers are able to watch and enjoy TNT Sports without needing to take any further action.

“We are hugely excited to launch TNT Sports across the UK and Republic of Ireland…From today, fans can watch TNT Sports in the same places they enjoyed BT Sport and without any interruption to their access,” said Andrew Georgiou, board member of the joint venture and president and managing director, Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe.

“In addition, with TNT Sports now on discovery+ in the UK we can begin to deliver a simple and even more compelling offer that appeals to the whole household, combining more live sport together with entertainment. We believe this is an exceptional value proposition for fans offering a compelling combination of sport and entertainment that is unique to discovery+.”

While there was general optimism as to the prospects for the new offer, some industry analysts were pointing out that TNT Sports could face some short-term headwinds. Paolo Pescatore, technology, media & telco analyst at PP Foresight said the launch represented a clean slate which promises to simplify the overall sports experience for fans in the long term but that there were Numerous challenges in the short term in managing a multi brand strategy which the new entity will need to navigate carefully.

“Initially there will be resentment as it will feel like another sports brand entering the UK market in an increasingly fragmented world. During a cost of living crisis this might give people a reason to cancel. Hence all focus must be placed on positioning and adding greater value for sports fans as part of the discovery+ umbrella,” he noted.

“This represents a further key step in a long journey where there will be other bumps to overcome. Maintaining key sports rights will remain ever so important to help during this transition for the next couple of years. All eyes now turn to the Premier League where the entity needs to build upon its current portfolio. Sport will now start to become a key differentiator for discovery+ with the goal of offering users everything in one place. It will be interesting to see how TNT Sports will be able to leverage other assets within the wider Warner Bros. discover family including CNN for an example in cross promoting content (sports documentaries).”