BT Sport

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I don't see how the consumer/viewer is going to benefit from this deal. What they've done is taken away free-to-view football from ITV and promised to air one game per season for each British team for non-subscribers. If you want to watch more than one CL game featuring your club (which will probably be a group game), you'll have to subscribe to BT Sports. At the moment fans can watch, what, half of the games for free?

Being a follower of football seems to get more expensive every year. Even if you don't go to games.
 
sun_tzu said:
Good for bt... with more football pethaps they can attract better pundits and make it a bit more watchable
They at least have to be better than itv anyway
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ITV coverage is awful, nothing so bad since the days of Setanta. I hate Adrian Chiles smug knowledgeless presenting, and Keane's vitriol for seemingly just about everything. I'm sure ITV know they made a massive mistake with Keane, but contracts to honour, and at the end of the day if there is no alternative fans will put up with crap punditry and commentary to watch the game.
 
All this is going to do is increase the number of people illegally streaming matches.

Sky are not going to reduce the cost of the monthly Sky Sports package despite having significantly less football coverage, and BT will probably increase their monthly cost to over £20. So it looks like we'll be paying significantly more for nothing extra. How on earth can anyone claim that this is a good thing?
 
nahealai said:
Firstrowsports was a leading player in the streaming of live football and that site was banned from showing live Premier League games earlier this year. The frequency of how many of these websites are being shut down is very telling and I can see them being very few and far between in the coming years. That goes for torrent sites and sites that stream movies, too (Movie2k was shut down earlier this year also).
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Firstrowsports never went anywhere though, it just moved to different hosting. If the Hollywood machine combined with the might of the music industry cannot shut down The Pirate Bay, BT is hardly going to bring an end to the football streaming era.
 
I just fecking hope we keep our CL coverage free in Ireland. This is a shit precedent being set in Britain that could affect the rest of europe.
 
Clearly we'll be paying more for our football than what we do now, and getting nothing extra. I doubt BT sport will continue to be free for BT Broadband customers, though they could offer it at a reduced rate if you have broadband with them. They'd properly corner the broadband market then (though they pretty much do anyway, since Sky broadband etc pay BT a fee to piggy back on their lines).
 
Ole's_toe_poke said:
Wait, no CL football on Sky at all?

That's an amazing coup for BT. :eek:
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It sure is and i'm not too pleased by it. Sky are simply experts when it comes to their coverage of Champions League football. I already get BT Sport for free with my broadband but it's clear their production isn't on the same level as Sky's yet. I would definitely miss the quality and prestige we're currently getting as it is.
 
It's scarcely believable. There was only one round of bidding, so BT opened with that offer and no one could match it!

Its a big coup for the Europa League. Alongside there being a Champions League place, the matches are finally on a proper channel.
 
Perhaps murdoch / sky will offer the top clubs 2bn to go into a midweek european league rather than the champions league... no ffp rules as its not s uefa event...
That would certainly piss on bt's chips
 
Chorley1974 said:
ITV coverage is awful, nothing so bad since the days of Setanta. I hate Adrian Chiles smug knowledgeless presenting, and Keane's vitriol for seemingly just about everything. I'm sure ITV know they made a massive mistake with Keane, but contracts to honour, and at the end of the day if there is no alternative fans will put up with crap punditry and commentary to watch the game.
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I couldn't give a feck about the punditry. The simple fact is millions of people are no longer going to be able to watch the champions league on a free to air channel.

I already pay sky close to £100 a month, and now I'm going to have to cough up an extra £15-£20 a month to watch the same games that I currently can as part of the existing Sky/ITV deal. It's infuriating.
 
It's bleeding confusing. I was planning to swap to cable after christmas, as with a small discount it would be cheaper, but now I don't know what to do.

The trouble is cable, sky and bt all disguise their charges with complicated bundles and introductory offers and you can only find the actual price by going through long-winded question-after-question mock applications.

Bastards, all three.
 
If I were BT I'd buy Virgin Media. The company that own Virgin, Liberty, made it clear from the start of their tenure they intended only to be passive players in the UK market and had no plans to expand their cable network or go beyond being a mere content carrier in the broadcast industry. If Sky takeover BT they would have the TV audience plus able to rebrand Virgin broadband 'BT SuperBB', or something awful, and have Sky shitting themselves as they'd have aplatform to provide a wider range of entertainment channels.

I can really see BT deciding to invest heavily in content. Sky's position as the king of the pay TV industry will be under threat in five years time.
 
To play devil's advocate though, weren't we told all this about it being the 'death of football' when Sky first purchased the Premier League coverage? Since then, despite reservations, the popularity of the game hasn't decreased at all, quite the opposite in fact. Most CL matches, aside from ITV's game, have been behind a pay wall for a few years now, so I don't think it's as disastrous as some think. Maybe not ideal but not disastrous.
 
As long as bt give the options via red button to all games it should be grand.

On non utd nights I love to switch between them all.
 
Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please.

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This is such a massuve coup for BT and such a loss for Sky that you have to wonder how Sky are going to react.

I can't see Sky saying " oh well, fair play let Bt have all the european football for 3 years" They must now be looking to invest in something to fill the void, The question is, what?
 
They'll try and drum up more support for the sports they have. Which will be intensely irritating to those of us that aren't turned on by rugby, cycling, cricket etc.
 
rolandofgilead said:
This is such a massuve coup for BT and such a loss for Sky that you have to wonder how Sky are going to react.

I can't see Sky saying " oh well, fair play let Bt have all the european football for 3 years" They must now be looking to invest in something to fill the void, The question is, what?
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They've already said they'll put the money into making original drama and comedy (instead of sport). For ages the main reason people bothered with Sky was the footy, they are trying to move away from that.
 
I will just look at the cost of both channels and make a choice, I can't afford both and to be honest refuse to have both. Would I rather watch the PL and other English Leagues and Capital One Cup or a smattering of PL games, Scottish PL, Conference, CL and German league etc. As you will be able to see the CL final for free, I might just go back to Sky Sports. I can't see Sky taking this lying down. You look at today with Sky having 3 games and BT not having any as they concentrate on the F.A. Cup.
 
duffer said:
They've already said they'll put the money into making original drama and comedy (instead of sport). For ages the main reason people bothered with Sky was the footy, they are trying to move away from that.
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If they neglect the football, they might regret it big time.
 
It's annoying but I know I'll still get both, even though it will probably cost me £10 ish more than it does now. The bank of duffer can probably stretch to that.
 
DomesticTadpole said:
If they neglect the football, they might regret it big time.
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I don't think it's a question of might regret it.

Imagine a wednesday night, where BT are showing Barcalona V Bayern Munich in a European cup game and Sky have put all their resources into A league of their own or some other shite starring James Cordon?
 
duffer said:
It's annoying but I know I'll still get both, even though it will probably cost me £10 ish more than it does now. The bank of duffer can probably stretch to that.
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Going to the pub for even a few matches a month will cost you a good chunk of the Sky subscription, even if you nurse a coke or two.
 
711 said:
They'll try and drum up more support for the sports they have. Which will be intensely irritating to those of us that aren't turned on by rugby, cycling, cricket etc.
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I'd say there reaction has already started. Every time Jeff Stelling got updates from the Reading match yesterday we were reminded how exclusively live it was on Sky Sports.
 
I can't believe BT sport gave the conference. How completely pointless. If BBC or ITV had it I might watch one or two games randomly.

I've got to get BT sport connected to my tv and not just online. When are they making an app?
 
Plugsy said:
To play devil's advocate though, weren't we told all this about it being the 'death of football' when Sky first purchased the Premier League coverage? Since then, despite reservations, the popularity of the game hasn't decreased at all, quite the opposite in fact. Most CL matches, aside from ITV's game, have been behind a pay wall for a few years now, so I don't think it's as disastrous as some think. Maybe not ideal but not disastrous.
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It will only be disastrous if bt start charging £25-£30 per month , £60 a month for just sport is ridiculous
 
BSkyB's shares are down 10% so far today. BT's are up slightly
 
vanthaman said:
It will only be disastrous if bt start charging £25-£30 per month , £60 a month for just sport is ridiculous
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Unsustainable if they do and counter productive. If They and sky both think they can gouge the customer for that amount people will start turning away in their droves.
 
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