BT Sport has confirmed its coverage plans for the new football and rugby union seasons, including the debut of new shows and line-up changes.
A packed schedule of live sport throughout the new season is led by live Premier League action, more live matches than before from the Emirates FA Cup, exclusive coverage of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, Scottish football, MotoGP, WTA tennis, live big-time boxing and, for the remainder of 2018, UFC.
BT Sport’s weekend coverage will typically kick off with live Friday night Gallagher Premiership Rugby action, the Heineken Champions Cup or the Scottish Professional Football League.
Saturdays get underway at 11.30am on BT Sport 1 with new show Saturday Morning Savage, presented by Robbie Savage and Jules Breach, who will host topical football debate and fun before the Saturday action begins. They will be joined by special guests in the studio and on the road, including teams of fan reporters on their way to games.
BT Sport’s Saturday coverage typically continues with live lunchtime football action from the Scottish Professional Football League, FA Women’s Super League or Vanarama National League, followed by BT Sport Score, where Mark Pougatch and guests will analysis all the talking points from the
Saturday afternoons also feature live action from the Gallagher Premiership or Heineken Champions Cup rugby, while at tea-time BT Sport will offer regular live Premier League action, followed by the first place to debate the day’s developments, Premier League Tonight, both of which will be anchored by Jake Humphrey, with Fight Night Live boxing coverage also featuring on selected Saturday nights.
Rounding off the weekend’s action on BT Sport will be additional live Gallagher Premiership rugby or Heineken Champions Cup action on Sundays, plus live coverage of Germany’s Bundesliga, which remains on BT Sport this season following the loss of Serie A to Eleven Sports, with Ligue 1 French football rights still to be confirmed.
Supporting BT Sport’s programming this season will be a number of further innovations and new programming. On Tuesday, 21 August on BT Sport 2 at 10.15pm, the channel debuts a new show ‘Fan TV: Call Yourself a Fan’.
Hosted by Lynsey Hipgrave and Max Rushden the show, which will run into the autumn, pits super fans of Premier League clubs up against one another to determine football’s most knowledgeable and passionate fans.
BT Sport will enhance its social media coverage, for example making selected UEFA Champions League content available on social media. It will extend its social-first content series ‘No Filter’, which explores key sports occasions and personalities.
In addition to its regular weekend line-up, the pay-TV sports broadcaster becomes the sole UK home of the UEFA Champions League with comprehensive live match coverage and highlights all exclusively on BT Sport.
Live coverage features a new ‘double-header’ format during the group stages, with matches kicking off at 5.55pm and 8.00pm each night.
Rugby union fans can also enjoy the best action as BT Sport becomes the home of domestic and European club rugby, continuing as the lead broadcaster of the Gallagher Premiership rugby, and new for this coming season, it will be the sole broadcaster of every Heineken Champions Cup match.
BT Sport will bring fans live coverage of all ten matches per group stage weekend, plus the knockout phase, across its platforms, taking in live Friday night and Saturday night matches. Fans will also continue to have access to Rugby Tonight, as BT Sport’s panel of experts are joined by guests and a studio audience to discuss topical issues each week.
Boxing fans can look forward to a top-class line up of fight nights featuring boxers from the Frank Warren stable, with the blockbuster Belfast card on 18 August when Carl Frampton defends his interim WBO world featherweight title and Tyson Fury makes his second heavyweight comeback fight.
This is ahead of the launch of BT Sport Box Office in September which will offer fans access to some of the very best bouts worldwide.
Commenting on BT Sport’s new season line-up, Simon Green, head of BT Sport, said:
“This season is set to be the best yet for BT Sport viewers as we become the home to both the best European football and European club rugby, plus world-title boxing and motorsport.
“Fans will also be able to watch our coverage in more ways than ever, including on ultra-high definition and in virtual reality as we continue to introduce new programming, ways to watch and availability across a wide range of devices and platforms.”
Supporting BT Sport’s programming will also be a number of innovations, including ultra high-definition 4K TV, VR360 plus expanded availability of the channels across devices.
BT Sport will continue using the latest broadcast technology, with Premier League, UEFA Champions League and Emirates FA Cup games made available in ultra-high-definition 4K with Dolby Atmos sound. For the first time, every live Scottish football league match will be broadcast in ultra-high-definition 4K.
BT Sport will extend the availability of virtual reality VR360 coverage on UEFA Champions League matches, while the BT Sport App will offer its award-winning enhanced player on rugby union coverage for the first time, allowing users to enjoy multicam replays for select games across key domestic and European rugby.
For more information about BT Sport, visit the channel’s official website – btsport.com. Watch BT Sport’s new season ‘Take them all on’ promo in the video player below.
