BT extend CL TV rights until 2021

BT paid £897M for the 3 yr CL and EL package last time round. This time, they are paying £1.2B for the same package and they won't give ITV the highlights package. That could change depending on how well BT is doing in a few years time.

I guess UEFA will be getting their grubby mitts on a big chunk of this money to spread around it's favourite clubs rather than most of it going back to the English clubs. It's their way of 'rebalancing'.

Another change will be that the top 4 leagues will get 4 automatic places (rather than 3 and one qualifying).

On one hand it's good to have competition with SKY. It will mean that the next PL rights deal could well be more than the current one. The downside is that someone has to pay for all this and that will be the end consumer.

There will come a point when the broadcasters decide that it isn't worth it anymore and the TV deal will fall in price. That could well hurt those clubs that are living at the end of their means as losing £20M a year could see them struggle if they've been used to good money for many years and haven't planned well enough for a downturn.

I was under the impression that UEFA didn't like BT sports having the champions league as it weakened their position with sponsors as nobody in the UK was effectively paying for it?

For £400M a year, who needs sponsors?

We are all paying £3.50 a month for it from August though, it's no longer free (unless you have their UHD system).  I take it because I have the broadband on a stupid deal for 2 years.  Battered them down on price the last time they increased it.

I just heard they're paying an extra £280m for the package.

Shame....at least Sky sold some of their games to ITV, which meant kids could watch their teams for free.

If UEFA don't invest in getting kids to watch their competition, as these are the next generation of investors, this competition will definitely go down the pan in a few years.

I'm on BT Broadband, so get it for free at the moment - but to listen to their terrible commentary team and presenter for another 3 years???

There's 7 million nerve endings in our body and Jake Humphrey gets on every single one of mine!

I'm guessing £987M + £280M gets pretty close to £1.2B.

I think BT will end up doing a highlights package.

BT Sports is shite - end of.

They've not been going that long, so give them time. I'm sure SKY weren't brilliant right from the off either. Though BT should be much better than the are.

They've had nearly 4 years now. They're as bad as the BBC for their anti-City agenda. I read this article this morning:

http://www.mcfcwatch.com/2017/02/17/colin-savage-does-the-bbc-have-a-problem-with-manchester-city/

blueboy wrote:They've had nearly 4 years now. They're as bad as the BBC for their anti-City agenda. I read this article this morning:

http://www.mcfcwatch.com/2017/02/17/colin-savage-does-the-bbc-have-a-problem-with-manchester-city/

It's been a saga on bluemoon for a while
http://forums.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/threads/complaint-to-bbc-regarding-pete-the-badge.326791/unread
I know prestwich blue who is haranguing the BBC,he's one pedantic fucker who won't let up

Good on him.