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Sky BT Sport Champions League

Sky rains on BT’s Champions League parade by revealing ratings slump

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By John Glenday, Reporter

June 9, 2015 | 2 min read

Sky Sports has sought to downplay the significance of its loss of the rights to screen Champions League matches to BT Sport, by insisting that the European competition is significantly less popular than the Premier League.

BT paid a record breaking £897m to acquire the rights to the contest for the next three years but in a bid to take the wind from its sails at launch Sky Sports managing director Barney Francis revealed that not one European match featured in its top 40 games.

Ratings for the continent-wide clash have slumped since 2010, dropping 36 per cent over the five seasons played since.

Writing on his blog Francis said: “Over the last five seasons, we have seen Champions League audiences fall 36%. Last season, we saw our lowest ever average match audience and not a single European game appeared in our top 40 football matches. Overall, Champions League accounts for just 2.5% of Sky Sports viewing, while the Premier League is seven times bigger.

“Meanwhile, football fans continue to show an overwhelming preference for our Premier League coverage. Once again, 49 of the top 50 most watched Premier League matches were on Sky Sports last season.”

Sky believes it retains the upper hand despite new found competition with revenue in the UK & Ireland growing by 11 per cent in the two years since BT's audacious Champions League move.

Sky BT Sport Champions League

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