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BT & Warner Bros. Discovery’s New Pay-TV Sports Business Venture

BT & Warner Bros. Discovery’s New Pay-TV Sports Business Venture

BT and US media company Warner Bros. Discovery have partnered to create a 50:50 joint venture pay-TV sports business in the UK and Ireland, reportedly worth £633m (AUD$1.1 billion) to the telecoms operator.

The new company will bring together an array of premium sports rights including UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, the English Premier League, Premiership Rugby, UFC, the Olympic Games, tennis Grand Slams featuring the Australian Open and Roland-Garros, cycling Grand Tours including the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia and the winter sports World Cup season.

According to the Guardian, under the terms of the new agreement, which is operated by Warner Bros Discovery, BT will receive a ​​£93 million (AUD$165 million) payment in instalments over three years after completion of the deal.

Additionally, over a period of four years, BT will receive up to £540m (AUD$958,68 million) based on how the venture is performing, however, if the performance cap is hit this will be paid sooner. 

BT Sport and Discovery owned-Eurosport UK will initially remain as separate entities in the market before being brought together under a single brand in the future.

BT’s CEO of the consumer division, Marc Allera, said: “As a global sports and entertainment broadcaster Warner Bros. Discovery is the perfect partner to work with us to take BT Sport to the next stage of its growth.”

“We’re excited to be joining forces to bring the best of BT Sport together with Eurosport UK to create a fantastic new sports offer alongside all the entertainment that discovery+ has to offer BT customers.

“We have a brilliant team who are dedicated to broadcasting amazing sporting moments and we look forward to working with Eurosport UK to realise the opportunities that this next stage will bring both our team and our viewers.”

Warner Bros. president and managing director, Andrew Georgiou, said they are excited to combine outstanding features of both companies to produce fans with new premium sports offerings.

“Combining this with our growing portfolio of premium entertainment content promises to deliver consumers a richer and deeper content proposition, not only providing greater value from their subscriptions but bringing the sport to a wider entertainment audience,” said Georgiou.

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