LONDON (Alliance News) - BT PLC said Wednesday that its BT Broadband customers will continue received its BT Sport service for free for a second football season, as it kept pressure on rival British Sky Broadcasting PLC.
BT said that around five million homes have now taken up BT Sports, nine months after the sports channels went live. During its first season it had rights to air games in the Barclays Premier League and FA Cup. During this new season it also will air European Rugby Champions Cup.
BT launched the service last August after it won the rights to show some English Premier League matches, it subsequently won exclusive rights to show Champions League and Europa Cup football matches in the UK for three seasons for EUR1.08 billion in total, starting from the 2015/16 season.
Competitor British Sky Broadcasting PLC charges GBP22 a month for its Sky Sports package, on top of existing television bundles. For BT customers who are do not have a Broadband package, the service can be watched for GBP12 a month in standard definition and GBP15 a month in high definition on BSkyB satellite boxes.
"We said we would shake up the market and we have done just that," said BT Consumer Chief Executive John Petter in a statement.
BT will report its full-year results Thursday next week.
Shares in BT were trading down 1.5% at 368.30 pence Wednesday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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BT (BT.A)