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BT Sport in talks with Discovery over potential merger
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BT Sport has entered intoexclusive talkswith US pay-TV firm Discovery over a potential merger of their operations in the UK.
The joint-venture would be a significant one in the UK given that Discovery already owns Eurosport – which is broadcasting the Winter Olympics in the UK alongside the BBC – and BT Sport, which owns the rights to oodles of sports including the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UFC, WWE, Ligue Un, Rugby Union, Cricket, MotoGP and many others.
If the deal passes through regulatory approval then it’s expected that the merger will be completed later in 2022.
What does this mean for existing BT Sport subscribers? At this moment it’s unknown as to whether the operation would be consumed and rebranded or continue to exist with two separate identities. BT Sport has said that its customers would gain access toDiscovery’s sport and entertainment contentas well as the discovery+ app.
The merger between the two companies is said to be a 50: 50 joint venture, which suggests equal share and control over future decisions. And bringing the two companies together would make for a huge sports broadcaster that would be able to take on Sky’s sports operations.
There was increasing speculation thatsports streaming site DAZNwere looking to purchase BT Sport for around $800million to increase its market share in the UK. DAZN had showed interest in bidding for the rights to the Premier League but this deal would strike a blow to those aspirations and pose the query of how much it can grow given it’s been losing a fair chunk of cash in its bid to break through and become the ‘Netflix of Sports’.
Not much visibility on financials of deal. Reports had said for months that DAZN was poised to purchase BT Sports business for $800m. Discovery deal more complex, involves premium assets not just cash.
On the potential merger, Marc Allera, CEO BT Consumer, 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.”
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Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.
Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
