The two companies have come to a formal agreement after lengthy negotiations
BT and Warner Bros Discovery will complete a merger in the coming months which will see the BT Sport and Eurosport brands become one. In a deal worth £633m, all UK and Ireland operations of the two brands will be combined in a powerful joint venture more than capable of competing with Sky Sports.
This agreement comes after extensive talks between the two parties over the last few months.
For now, the two brands will continue under the same names and with the same activities until they eventually merge into one brand, the name of which is currently unknown.
BT Sport will bring to the table its broadcasting rights to the Premier League and all UEFA competitions, as well as tonnes of other sports content, while Eurosport will provide its coverage of winter sports, cycling, tennis and more. The new behemoth brand will have a solid foothold in the market and the rights to various sporting competitions throughout the world.
It's understood that both companies will hold a 50% stake in the new entity. The deal is expected to be finalised by the end of the year, at which point the new joint venture will decide where to distribute their new sports library on the various online and offline platforms it will hold.
As part of the deal, it is understood that BT Sport subscribers will now have access to Discovery+ as part of their current plans.
Andrew Georgiou, President and Managing Director of Warner Bros Discovery Sports Europe, said:
“We are excited to bring fans a new premium sport offering that brings together everything they love from BT Sport and Eurosport UK,”
“Combining this with our growing portfolio of premium entertainment content promises to deliver consumers a richer and deeper content proposition, not only providing greater value from their subscriptions but bringing sport to a wider entertainment audience.”
Marc Allera, BT Consumer Chief Executive, said:
“We’re excited to be joining forces to bring the best of BT Sport together with Eurosport UK to create a fantastic new sports offer alongside all the entertainment that Discovery+ has to offer BT customers,”
“I’m incredibly proud of the established, creative and innovative broadcaster that BT Sport has become…we look forward to working with Eurosport UK to realise the opportunities that this next stage will bring both our team and our viewers.”
BT Sport had been looking to sell its sports broadcasting rights for some time, in an attempt to focus its efforts on its broadband business and investments in fibre and 5G infrastructure. For a long time, OTT platform DAZN looked to be certain to pick up those rights and buy out BT Sport, but the company dropped out at the final hurdle, leading to this merger with Warner Bros Discovery.
It is understood that BT may still look to transition out of the sports rights market in the coming years and that stipulations are in place in the deal to make that possible, with Warner Bros Discovery able to buy BT out of the joint venture during the coming years.
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