BT enters final stage of talks to offload sports TV rights

BT is in talks with the Premier League as it enters the final stage of offloading its sports TV business, with possible deals from streaming service Dazn and US pay-TV giant Discovery under discussion at the telecoms giant’s monthly board meeting on Wednesday.

Dazn, the “Netflix for sport” that has made no secret of its desire to secure crown jewel Premier League rights to ignite its streaming business in the UK, has been positioned as the favourite since BT began exploring strategic options for BT Sport last April.

However, Eurosport owner Discovery, which has expressed interest in Premier League rights in the past and has a £920m deal for the TV rights to the Olympics across Europe, is considered to still be in contention.

BT, which will also need any deal to be signed off by the Champions League, for which it holds the UK rights, is expected to gain clearance as the rights bodies need a viable second player to Sky after the current three-year cycle ends in 2025.

“This level of engagement with the rights holder typically means that the commercial wrangling over a deal is for the most part done,” said one source, who has been involved in similar change-of-ownership deals. “That tends to signal the last stage.”

BT’s board was due to meet on Wednesday with an agenda that includes discussing the strategic review of BT Sport, which is also complicated by carriage deals with Sky that will need to be re-examined with a change of ownership ahead of the company’s third-quarter results on Thursday.

There have been significant hurdles surrounding the offloading of the sports TV business, including what financial guarantees may be needed around the current multibillion-pound rights deals BT has in place.

Dazn, which is backed by the multi-billionaire Sir Leonard Blavatnik, remains heavily loss-making.

The decade-old BT Sport business, which has UK rights to sports including Champions League football and Premiership Rugby, has cost the company billions in sports rights but also succeeded in stemming the defection of millions of broadband customers to Sky, which offers its own service packaged with prime sports.

In recent years, the battle between BT and Sky has cooled after a groundbreaking channel-sharing deal allowing customers to watch all Premier League games without being forced to buy separate TV packages.

The company has instead focused on aggregating content through its BT TV service, offering content from partners including Sky, Netflix and Amazon.

With broadband customer churn stabilised, BT is seeking to refocus its business on its core telecoms operation. The company is investing £12.5bn in upgrading much of the UK’s internet network to next-generation full-fibre broadband and is spending billions on building its 5G mobile network. The Guardian