BT Sport free for superfast subs
May 7, 2013
BT is set to give free access to its new sports channel showing live Premier League football to a million subscribers who take its high-speed fibre optic broadband service.
The telco will unveil details of the plan on May 10th when it reveals full-year figures, likely to show profits up five per cent to £2.5billion (€3bn) for the year to March 31st.
BT is also set to reveal the price of BT Sport for subscribers who take the channel direct from BT rather than via rival broadcasters such as Sky. Most estimates expect it to be around £10 a month.
However, BT and Sky are still in talks over whether BT Sport will be offered to Sky on a wholesale basis for Sky to sell on to its ten million-plus subscribers with a bundle of channels. Alternatively, BT could offer the channel direct to Sky subscribers, who would then have to pay two subscriptions. It currently has 770,000 subscribers to BT Vision, which will include BT Sport when it is launched this summer.
BT is reluctant to offer the rights to Sky wholesale as it fears losing its two million customers who watch Sky TV on BT’s broadband service.