BT in exclusive talks with Discovery on sport TV joint-venture

[LONDON] Britain's BT Group said on Thursday it had entered exclusive discussions with Discovery to create a joint venture between BT Sport and pan-European TV network Eurosport.

Announcing the deal as it said Covid-19 and supply chain issues would hit revenue this year, BT opted to stay in sports television rather than going for an outright sale to streaming service DAZN, which had also made an offer.

The new business would be a 50:50 joint venture, BT said, and would remain committed to retaining BT Sport's existing major sport broadcast rights, such as Premier League soccer.

Discovery was vying with streaming service DAZN, which wanted to buy BT Sport outright.

The joint-venture will bring together the Olympic Games, Premier League, Uefa Champions League, Uefa Europa League, cycling Grand Tours, tennis Grand Slams, the winter sport World Cup season and Premiership Rugby, the companies said.

Marc Allera, chief executive of BT Consumer, said the proposed joint venture would create an "exciting new sports broadcasting entity" for the UK.

"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,"he said.

DAZN Chairman Kevin Mayer said in a statement that the deal for BT Sport had "become uneconomical" for DAZN, but he remained committed to growing the business in Britain.

BT made the announcement as it reported a trading update for the nine months to end-December, with revenue falling 2 per cent in the period to £15.68 billion (S$28.6 billion), with declines in global and enterprise partly offset by growth in the Openreach network.

It said as a result of Covid-19 and supply chain issues it now expected adjusted revenue for the year to be down around 2 per cent.

REUTERS