BT acquires more live football rights

Monday, 29th October, 2012
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BT has acquired the rights to show live top tier football matches from Italy, France, Brazil and the US, as it seeks to strengthen its portfolio ahead of the 2013 launch of its new BT Sport channel. 

BT has bought the live games to bolster its offering, which will be founded on 38 live games a season from the Barclays Premier League, 18 of which will be the best quality ‘first pick’ games featuring the top six teams. When BT won those rights for three years from 2013, it was the first time anyone other than Sky had won rights to show any of the ‘first pick’ games in the history of the Barclays Premier League.

The live matches from Serie A in Italy, Ligue 1 in France, Brasileiro in Brazil and the Major League Soccer (MLS) in the USA will feature some of the greatest players and some of the top clubs in the world.  The new deal will deliver a further blow to ESPN who had previously held rights to Serie A, Ligue 1 and MLS matches in the UK.

The Serie A rights include 380 live matches per season delivered in HD, highlights packages from each match day as well as the weekly preview show Total Italian Football and weekly review Serie A Show. The Ligue 1 rights include 380 live matches per season in HD, a weekly preview show and highlights packages from each match day.

The Brasileiro rights include 100 live matches per season from Campeonato Paulista (Paulista) and Campeonato Brasileiro de Clubes da Série A (Brasileirão or Brazilian Serie A), weekly highlights shows from both competitions and TV Globo Soccer Magazine show “FootBrazil”. The Major League Soccer Championship rights include 99 matches per season in HD.

Marc Watson, CEO, TV said of the new football deals: “We are delighted to announce that we will be adding to the Barclays Premier League live games with more top quality live coverage of games from some of the top leagues in the world.

“As well as enjoying 38 games from the Barclays Premier League, football fans will be able to follow David Beckham and Thierry Henry in the MLS and witness whether the resurgent Juventus can withstand the challenge of the two Milan giants in Serie A. They’ll also be able to enjoy the talent on show in the French Ligue 1, where they will see the skills of stars such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva.

“We believe this extra depth of live matches will help us in our aim to develop an absolutely cracking sports channel, with fantastic live action, across the top football leagues, plus rugby union and other sports to come. We’ve hired the best talent behind the camera to bring to viewers the first rate production that they’ve come to expect from a sports channel in the UK.”.

Readers Comments

One comment so far »

  1. John Hastings on November 5, 2012 at 02:39 said:

    The end for ESPN UK must surely be nigh – wouldn’t surprise me if BT & ITV team up for FA Cup rights after 2014.

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