BT has signed a long term distribution deal to add both British Eurosport channels to the line-up of linear TV channels available on its BT Vision service.
The agreement will bring British Eurosport and British Eurosport 2 to BT’s TV service, offering sports fans the chance to watch major European and international sporting events.
British Eurosport content will complement a wider sports offering soon to be available from BT Vision on the BT Sport channel to be launched in the summer of 2013.
Both channels will be added to the service in due course, while further content from other sports nextworks is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
BT Vision subscribers will be able to enjoy British Eurosport’s vast portfolio pan-European sports rights.
This includes French Open, Australian Open and US Open tennis Grand Slams, Tour de France, World Snooker events, Africa Cup of Nations, MotoGP, World Superbikes, British Superbikes, World Touring Car Championship and the FIA European Rally Championship, as well a variety of summer and winter Olympic sports.
The agreement with British Eurosport will also give BT Vision viewers a range of top sporting content to watch anytime through catch-up programming.
Marc Watson, CEO of BT Vision, said: “Eurosport has been a pioneer in providing sports fans with the best in live sports action for the last 20 years and is the number one pan-European sports channel.
“British Eurosport and British Eurosport 2 combine the best of Eurosport’s international sports coverage with a host of UK sports rights, including British Superbikes and snooker.
“We’re really pleased to be able to add them to our line up following on from the Barclays Premier League broadcast rights that we have secured.
“We think BT Vision is becoming the top value for money TV choice for sports fans.”
Jean-Thierry Augustin, managing director of Distribution, Rights Acquisition and Development at Eurosport said, “Our partnership with BT Vision strengthens still further the distribution of the Eurosport channel in the UK.
“It increases the reach of our key world class properties, like the Africa Cup of Nations, Australian Open and Tour de France.
“Eurosport is very much looking forward to partnering with a dynamic and innovative platform partner in BT Vision.”
British Eurosport’s channels will be offered in addition to the BT Sport channel, which is scheduled to launch in the summer of 2013.
BT Sport will offer live coverage of Barclays Premier League and Aviva Premiership Rugby matches, as well as top-flight football leagues in Italy, France, Brazil and the US.
The telecoms giant recently revealed that it has passed 750,000 subscribers for its BT Vision platform, which is a ‘hybrid’ Digital Terrestrial TV and IPTV service that delivers TV channels via a standard digital terrestrial box and on-demand content through a hybrid internet-connected set-top box.
BT added 21,000 customers to Vision in the third quarter of 2012, and has confirmed that it is accelerating its rollout of fibre broadband ahead of the launch of its new sports channel next year.
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