BT and Virgin Media sign BT Sport deal
BT and Virgin Media have announced a three year deal to ensure that Virgin Media TV customers get full access to BT Sport TV channels.
The wholesale deal, which has been signed in advance of the start of the Barclays Premier League this weekend, will enable Virgin Media to offer BT Sport directly to almost four million TV customers.
It means BT Sport 1 and 2 are now available across all the major TV platforms in the UK including cable, satellite and DTT. The channels are also accessible via broadband.
The agreement also enables Virgin Media to offer the channels as a standalone premium service to TV customers who do not take the XL pack.
Marc Watson, BT TV chief executive said: “BT has made a large investment in BT Sport and this is an important commercial agreement for us that recognises the excellence of the channels. We are keen to make our services as widely available as possible and to do so via wholesale arrangements. We are doing this with Sport.”
BT Sport will show 38 exclusively live football matches from the Barclays Premier League, including 18 of the ‘top picks’, for each of the next three seasons. The channels will also show live FA Cup with Budweiser matches for the next five seasons.