Aviva Premiership Broadcast Rights

Hey guys,

Just a quick query - is the new BT Sports channel to gain exclusive rights to all Aviva Premiership games or will they now be split between ESPN, Sky and BT?

Just BT. 69 games next season I believe

Yeah, they've basically taken on the games ESPN and SKy were showing. It seems the ESPN are largely moving across as well.

ESPN are no longer running their channels in the UK, however as part of their rights purchases, BT Sport will be taking over and running one of the ESPN channels next year under the current name and branding. It will look like the same channel but it will be owned by BT rather than by Disney.

In terms of coverage, we will get up to 3 games per weekend on BT (whether this is on the dedicated BT Sport channel(s) or the newly owned ESPN channel we do not yet know). Sky will retain the European competitions next year. Then the following season (2014/15) the premiership will continue to be broadcast by BT Sport (again under what guise we do not know) and euro comps are still up in the air until its decided what these comps might actually be.

Think this is all roughly accurate, pieced together as best I can from the snippets we've so far been given by those companies involved.

The Grauniad has set it out pretty clearly:

Grauniad

Kind of a pain in the arse financially if you regularly watch a few different sports, then?

Kind of a pain in the arse financially if you only watch rugby, actually. I will probably ditch Sky Sports once the HEC is gone, but until then I am paying for football that I don't actually watch and would rather not subsidise.

But broadband + rugby will probably work out cheaper even after the free channels period runs out.

Interesting rumours: Tighter links being forged between Disney/ABC (who own ESPN) and BT. Closer links for media sharing and resource utilisation.
Read the report in a Spanish language paper in Colombia last week, but was taken from an American network source. If I can find it, I will post. Was a few days ago. Apparently closer links between Disney/ABC and News Corp. was a bridge too far for Disney (good thing that).

I'm not sure if it's correct but I was told if you have sky tv and then get BT broadband you can add the BT sports channels for free. Seeing as BT broadband is currently cheaper than the robbing sods at Virgin could mean I save a tenner on broadband and a tenner on tv per month. Result.

formerly known as Sam wrote:I'm not sure if it's correct but I was told if you have sky tv and then get BT broadband you can add the BT sports channels for free. Seeing as BT broadband is currently cheaper than the robbing sods at Virgin could mean I save a tenner on broadband and a tenner on tv per month. Result.

I'm pretty sure that's on BT website so worth a crack. Apparently they "don't have plans" to charge BT Internet users for the sports but I suppose they could always start.

Sky have already stated it'll cost £12.

formerly known as Sam wrote:I'm not sure if it's correct but I was told if you have sky tv and then get BT broadband you can add the BT sports channels for free. Seeing as BT broadband is currently cheaper than the robbing sods at Virgin could mean I save a tenner on broadband and a tenner on tv per month. Result.

Well at least it's better than the deal that the robbing sods at BBC Wales, Scotland and Ulster give to us licence fee payers for the Rabo product.

For us the Virgin product was cheaper with the free espn bundle in the feeble Sky package.

I went with Virgin because the phone line into the house was Virgin already and have seen them raise the price to double what it was when I started the contract. Sky on the other hand installed the new dish I required for free and in a very timely fashion. Virgin took a fortnight to rock up and then attempted to charge me £80 despite the free installation offer. The customer support is also terrible.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Sky have already stated it'll cost £12.

Yeah, that's what I'll be paying (not having access to BT). But if you have BT Internet you can get it free through your sky box (I think)

edit: just checked and you do get it free with BT Internet. You have to get direct from BT apparently.

Ive just signed up to bt sports. I already have to pay for the landline and thats £15. So I just needed the internet & got a deal for £8. I will get the bt sports channels for free through the sky platform. When you sign up, bt ask for your sky card number. I only watch the rugby so Im very happy.

MotelMoneyMurderMadness wrote:Ive just signed up to bt sports. I already have to pay for the landline and thats £15. So I just needed the internet & got a deal for £8. I will get the bt sports channels for free through the sky platform. When you sign up, bt ask for your sky card number. I only watch the rugby so Im very happy.

Interesting. I've signed up with BT for landline and broadband but have Sky TV, so it sounds like I will be able to get BT Sports free for a year too?

Crypto thats right and if you sign up before August you get HD free too. As a sky customer you give BT your viewing card number and they do the rest. As I understand the Top 14 games are included too.

Signed up for it today - free inc. HD for a year. Cheers for the heads-up!