BT sees off Sky with £1.2bn deal for Champions League football rights

BT has retained the exclusive rights to show European football in the UK after holding off competition from Sky by securing a deal worth £1.18bn - nearly £300m more than it paid for the rights in 2013.

It means BT will show Champions League and Europa League football for a further three seasons, at a cost of £394m each season, until the summer of 2021.

Viewing figures for European football’s premier competition have dropped in recent years, but the broadcaster has promised broader access to the Champions League through social media.

It said it will make clips and highlights available for free on social media, as well as both finals. Last season, BT streamed both finals on YouTube.

BT Sport will be the exclusive broadcaster for upcoming Champions League ‘double header’ nights, when a change in kick-off times means that there will be live matches starting at both 6pm and 8pm during the group stages.

Sky had tried to reclaim the rights after it was shocked three years ago when BT agreed a £897m deal with the governing body.

The Telegraph revealed last month that Channel 4 was exploring the prospect of buying one Champions League fixture per matchweek under the three-year deal.

There could now be talks between BT and Channel 4 over the possibility of BT subletting certain matches to the public service broadcaster.

A deal could also be struck with ITV, which is hoping to recover the 17 matches it showed each season before the rights were awarded to BT more than three years ago.

Keeping hold of the Champions League rights has been seen as hugely important to BT’s pay-TV business, although its current exclusive deal has caused concern among Champions League sponsors that they are not getting as much exposure to audiences as they did under the previous arrangement with Sky and ITV.

John Petter, consumer chief executive at BT, said: "We are delighted to have renewed these rights. The UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League are two of the best competitions in the world and we would like to thank UEFA for choosing us as their exclusive broadcast partner in the UK. The UEFA Champions League is due to get even stronger and we are delighted that fans will be able to enjoy two live matches a night for the first time."

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