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LONDON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - 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% in the
period to 15.68 billion pounds, 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%.
(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Kate Holton)
