BT, Virgin Media strike wholesale BT Sport deal

BT and Virgin Media have signed a three year deal that will allow Virgin Media TV customers to watch BT Sport TV channels.The new arrangement will start this weekend, in time for the start of the Barclays Premier League.BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN will be automatically available to Virgin Media customers who have the XL TV package. Other customers can either upgrade to this package or pay £15 a month to add the channels to their existing deal. BT TV Chief Executive Marc Watson said the wholesale deal with Virgin Media increased the audience for BT Sport to around 3m homes over night.He said: "BT has made a large investment in BT Sport and this is an important commercial agreement for us that recognises the excellence of the channels."Shares in BT were up 0.86% at 329p at 09:24 on Thursday.TB