 has maintained its rights to broadcast Champions League football rights, in a deal worth £1.18 billion.){kind=link}
BT Sport (LON:BT.A) has maintained its rights to broadcast Champions League football rights, in a deal worth £1.18 billion.
The deal ensures that BT Sport will have exclusive rights to show Champions League games for another three years, costing a whopping £394 million per season. This marks an almost £300 million increase from the original price agreed upon for the rights back in 2013, but will also include rights to full highlights. As a result of the re-negotiated agreement, ITV (LON:ITV) will lose its current late night programme.
However, BT has said it will make make clips, highlights, and both finals free for viewing on social media in order to accommodate the growing popularity of online streaming.
John Petter, Consumer BT CEO, commented: “We are delighted to have renewed these rights. The Uefa Champions League and Uefa Europa League are two of the best competitions in the world and we would like to thank Uefa for choosing us as their exclusive broadcast partner in the UK.
BT has fought of competition from previous rights holder Sky (LON:SKY), which last year was announced to be acquired by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox network. Prior to BT Champions League rights acquisition in 2013, Sky and ITV had shared rights according to an original deal worth £400 million.
“We are truly exclusive now,” Mr Petter added. “Viewing on social media has seen the biggest growth in audiences, especially since we gave access to BT Sport to EE customers.”
Despite a rise in price for the rights of around 32 percent for BT, viewing figures for Champions League football have dropped in recent years.
North London’s Arsenal are set to play Bayern Munich on Tuesday at 19.45PM (GMT), alongside Napoli vs. current 2016 title holder’s Real Madrid, in the upcoming Champions League fixtures.
Shares are performing steadily amid news of the renewed deal. As of currently, shares in BT are up 0.20 percent as of 11.00AM (GMT).