BT Sport and Eurosport to merge after £540 million deal
The merger is part of a joint sports venture with Warner Bros Discovery.
BT Sport and Eurosport are set to merge, after a deal was struck between BT and Warner Bros Discovery.
The US media company, which owns Eurosport, has struck a deal for a 50:50 joint venture with the telecoms firm. It will be operated by Warner Bros Discovery, with BT receiving a £93 million payment in instalments over three years.
For now, BT Sport and Eurosport are expected to remain separate, although they will be brought under one banner in the future.
This means that Premier League football, Champions League football, Grand Slam tennis, cycling Grand Tours, Premiership Rugby and the Olympics could all theoretically be broadcast by one brand once the merger has been completed, giving them one of the most extensive portfolios of any platform.
Under the plans, BT Sport customers would be given access to Discovery Sport's content, and vice-versa.
As part of the deal BT will also receive up to £540m based on the performance of the operation over four years, although this could pay out sooner if either the £540m performance cap is hit or Warner Bros Discovery looks to take full control.
Chief executive of BT Philip Jansen said in a statement: “We have finalised the sports joint venture with Warner Bros Discovery to improve our content offering to customers, aligning our business with a new global content powerhouse."
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Chief executive of BT’s Consumer operation Marc Allera added: “As a global sports and entertainment broadcaster Warner Bros Discovery is the perfect partner to work with us to take BT Sport to the next stage of its growth”.
Meanwhile, president and managing director of Warner Bros Discovery Sports Europe Andrew Georgiou said: “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".
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