BT Sport

Launch (2013)

News of BT's first foray into sports broadcasting first came about on 12 June 2012 when it was announced that they had won the rights to 38 live Premier League matches for three seasons from the 2013-14 season, beating American broadcast partner ESPN who had held the shared rights with Sky Sports the previous season. BT announced at the same time that it would be launching its own channel for its new football coverage.^[3] The news followed speculation that ESPN was reconsidering its position in the UK.^[4] The following months also saw BT win rights to Premiership Rugby and its associated 7s Series, and American, Brazilian, French and Italian top-flight football.^[5][6] On 25 February 2013, BT agreed to acquire ESPN's UK and Ireland TV channels business, consisting of ESPN and ESPN America (ESPN Classic was not included). BT would continue to broadcast at least one ESPN branded channel since the deal's completion date of 31 July, as part of its BT Sport package of services. The value of the deal was not disclosed, but BT was understood to be paying "low tens of millions".^[7].

On 2 May 2013, BT Sport 1 and BT Sport 2 were added to the BT TV EPG, followed by Sky the next day along with an on-screen message that the channel was coming soon. On Sky, the channels replaced BT's placeholders, Sailing 1 and 2.^[8] The BT-owned terrestrial feeds of Sky Sports 1 and 2, which were also used for Top Up TV, were dropped on 1 July in favour of BT Sport 1 and 2.^[9]. The Channels started broadcasting on 1 August 2013, on the same day ESPN America ceased to broadcast and ESPN became ESPN from BT Sport; broadcasting most of ESPN America's content. BT signed a wholesale deal with Virgin Media on 15 August 2013 bringing the channels free of charge to customers on the TV XL package.^[10]

An interactive service, BT Sport Extra, launched in September 2014, broadcasting additional content at selected times.^[11] One video stream was available at launch which expanded to seven in August 2015. BT Sport Extra can be accessed directly from the EPG on YouView boxes and from the red button on Sky and Virgin Media.

On 9 June 2015, ESPN from BT Sport was rebranded BT Sport ESPN.

Expansion (2015-)

On 1 August 2015, BT launched three new channels: BT Sport Europe, a dedicated channel for its coverage of European football and rugby union including the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and rugby challenge and champions cups; BT Sport Showcase, a free-to-air only HD channel which would show a number of sporting events unencrypted via Freeview such as Champions League; and BT Sport Ultra HD, the UK's first and only 4K television channel which will broadcast a number of events in ultra-high-definition exclusively on BT TV.^[12] On 4 August 2016, BT Sport Europe was renamed BT Sport 3 and BT Sport Ultra HD to BT Sport 4K UHD. A similar channel to BT Sport Showcase was made available on Virgin media named BT Sport Free.

BT Sport Box Office

In April 2018, BT Sport revealed its intention to launch a pay-per-view channel to show live boxing^[13] and in August BT Sport announced that the channel would launch on 15 September.^[14]

Current BT Sport channels and logos

Availability

In the UK, BT Sport is available in standard definition with all BT TV packages for BT Broadband customers, programming is also available in high definition to BT Infinity customers for an additional fee. BT Sport 4K UHD is only available on BT TV.

On Sky and Plusnet TV BT Sport 1 only is currently offered for free to broadband subscribers as 'BT Sport Lite', regardless of what subscription they have. Customers who wish to view the remaining channels can subscribe to the 'BT Sport Pack' in either standard or high definition.^[15] BT also provide broadband subscribers access to the channels via the BT Sport online player and mobile app.^[16] BT Sport pack Subscribers also receive BoxNation in standard definition only and Sky UK customers also have exclusive access to AMC from BT in the relevant definition.

Virgin Media customers receive BT Sport 1, 2, 3 and ESPN in HD as part of their "Full House" bundle however, they do not receive BoxNation or AMC from BT.

TalkTalk TV customers must subscribe to the BT Sport Pack in order to receive the entire range of channels.

In the Republic of Ireland, BT Sport channels (except 4K UHD) are bundled with Eir Sport subscriptions across all platforms, as a part of a deal BT had with what was Setanta Sports back then.^[17][18] The deal means BT Sport 1, 2, 3, ESPN and BoxNation are part of the Eir Sport Pack in the Republic, along with Eir Sport 1 and Eir Sport 2.

In addition Freeview HD customers received BT Sport Showcase and Virgin Media customers received BT Sport Free. They closed on 30 June 2018.

Football coverage

Presenters

Name	Nat	Coverage
Jake Humphrey
Gary Lineker
Lynsey Hipgrave
Darrell Currie
Matt Smith
James Richardson

Rugby union coverage

BT Sport had exclusive live rights to the Anglo-Welsh Cup until its final competition in 2017–18, as well as being senior broadcast partner of Premiership Rugby. The original Premiership coverage deal ran until the 2016/17 season and allowed BT Sport to exclusively broadcast up to 69 live games per season. The Aviva Premiership's viewing figures rose by 40% in TV audiences in its first season with BT Sport.^[32] A new deal was signed in March 2015 to cover the Premiership Rugby until 2021 covering up to 80 matches a season from 2017–18 and introducing an extended highlights programme from the 2015-16 season.^[33] Subsequently, in 2017 Channel 5 announced a deal that would see them simulcast five matches per season for the remaining duration of the deal.^[34] BT originally shared rights to European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR)'s champions and challenge cups with Sky Sports, each broadcaster will exclusively broadcast up to 30 pool matches, 2 quarter-finals and 1 semi-final from each competition with the finals being shown by both. BT also received first pick on Champions Cup matches involving Premiership Rugby clubs. For four seasons from the 2018-19 season, BT Sport will become the official broadcast partner of the Champions and Challenge cups and broadcast up to 134 matches per season.^[35] The Challenge Cup will be shown exclusively on BT Sport whilst broadcasting of the Champions Cup will be shared with Channel 4 in the UK and TV3 in the Republic of Ireland with both channels simulcasting one match from each round and the final.

Craig Doyle is the main presenter of the coverage whilst Lawrence Dallaglio acts as the main match analyst. Sarra Elgan and Martin Bayfield also present live action whilst further reporting comes from Tim Cocker, Jill Douglas and Chris Hollins. Austin Healey, Brian O'Driscoll, Ben Kay and Ugo Monye provide further punditry and co-commentary. BT Sport usually have one forward and one back acting as co-commentators on every match so one of Dallagio or Kay, along with one of Healey, Monye or O'Driscoll join Nick Mullins, Alastair Eykyn, Martin Gillingham, Andrew Cotter, Gareth Rhys Owen, Andrew McKenna or Sam Roberts in the commentary box. Occasionally guest pundits and guest co-commentators are used.

Cricket coverage

In August 2015, it was announced that BT Sport had claimed the rights for Australia's home matches for five years starting in the 2016-17 season. This means that BT would show The Ashes series between England and Australia in 2017-18 with the deal also including the Big Bash League, the Women's Ashes and the Women's Big Bash League.^[36]

Coverage is presented by Matt Smith alongside a rotating panel of Michael Vaughan, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Geoffrey Boycott, Graeme Swann and Damien Fleming. Commentary was provided by Alison Mitchell with two of the experts at one time, with Mitchell also reporting alongside Alex Gordon-Martin.

BT has also broadcast all 34 matches from the Caribbean Premier League most recently in 2017.

Tennis coverage

In January 2013, BT Sport signed a deal with the WTA to show 21 live tournaments from the women's tennis tour. The coverage can consist of up to 800 live hours of coverage every year until 2016, each season ending with the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships. Coverage is presented by Lynsey Hipgrave with Martina Navratilova. Former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli, Anne Keothavong, David Mercer, Nick Mullins, Sam Smith and Alastair Eykyn are the commentators. BT now show 52 WTA tournaments.

Motorsport coverage

BT Sport has rights to numerous British, European, American and global motorsport series both in live and highlights form.

MotoGP is BT Sport's flagship motorsports event and in addition to the main MotoGP event, BT shows the Moto2, Moto3, Red Bull Rookies and CEV Repsol championships. Suzi Perry, Craig Doyle and Gavin Emmett hosts alongside pundits Jeremy McWilliams, Colin Edwards, James Toseland and Neil Hodgson. Commentary is provided by Keith Huewen and Michael Laverty at six of the rounds with additional commentary from Colin Edwards, James Toseland, Gavin Emmett and Neil Hodgson during practice and qualifying and at the other rounds. BT also produces a highlights programme which is broadcast on Channel 5 on the Monday evening following the race. Gavin Emmett, former World Feed commentator, would take up the role of BT Sport's MotoGP reporter. The presenter who presented earlier host an analysis show called Chequered Flag aired after the MotoGP race has finished. Iwan Thomas previously presented.

IndyCar Series coverage on BT Sport is just world feed pictures and commentary usually from either ABC or NBC Sports. For ABC as of 2018, Allen Bestwick is the lap-by-lap commentator while former IndyCar drivers Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever serve as colour commentators. Then for NBC Sports Leigh Diffey is the lap-by-lap commentator with the other commentators being Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy. Perry presents coverage of the Indianapolis 500.

Other live series include the World Rally Championship, Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and the Australian Supercars Championship where the world feed is taken directly from the host broadcaster. For World Series by Renault, BT Sport take world feed images but produce their own commentary, usually from Ben Evans and a journalist or racing driver. Highlights packages are also shown on BT Sport for series such as BRDC Formula 4 Championship, FIA European Formula Three Championship and the British Formula Three Championship.

American sports coverage

BT Sport shows extensive coverage of American sports, including Major League Baseball, NBA, American College Sports, Major League Lacrosse, and X Games. Also ESPN-produced American sports magazines, such as College Gameday and Baseball Tonight, are shown, often live. The majority of American sports coverage is broadcast on BT Sport ESPN apart from the NBA which is usually shown on one of the main channels.

Combat sports coverage

BDO Darts coverage

It was announced in December 2014 that BT Sport would share the rights to the 2015 BDO World Darts Championship alongside BBC Sport. Coverage would be presented by Ray Stubbs for the first two years of their coverage. In August 2016 they signed a new 2-year deal to share rights this time with Channel 4. Currently Matt Smith presents live coverage with Chris Mason as studio pundit. Reshmin Chowdury is roving reporter. Commentators on BT Sport Darts coverage are John Rawling, Jim Proudfoot, Vassos Alexander, Paul Nicholson, Deta Hedman and Chris Mason, these are shared with Channel 4's coverage, as the commentary is produced independently.

Football