Champions League rights drive BT Sports subscriptions
BT has announced record sign ups to its TV package, attributing much of the traffic to its costly seizure of UEFA Champions League match rights from rival Sky.
The telecom giant’s quarterly earnings review revealed that revenues rose by two per cent to £4.4m in the three months leading to September, a figure largely flattened by its £897m three-year purchase of the Champions League rights, an asset which looks to have increased the appeal of its Pay TV offering.
Speaking during the, BT chief executive Gavin Patterson said: “We’ve seen good demand for BT Sport Europe and this has helped us add a record number of BT TV customers in the quarter.
“Its contribution has been better than we expected, helping drive a seven per cent increase in BT consumer revenue.”
The acquisition of Europe’s leading football tournament and the launch of US channel AMC, broadcaster of shows such as Breaking Bad and Walking Dead, helped bloat the Pay TV customer base by 106,000.
Patterson also hailed the news that UK competition authorities have greenlit its £12.5bn merger with mobile carrier EE, resulting in what will be a dominant force in the UK market.