BT Sports? Will they ruin football? Part 1

Is it about the money for BT Sports or should the fans leave football altogether ?

by James Daley Oliver

11 November 2014 at 11:51

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BT Sports announced last week a mind boggling deal with UEFA for the Champions League and the Europa League which is worth around £897 million, from the 2015-16 season. Which has left Sky and ITV reeling over what Football coverage they can show from 2015 and beyond. BT Sports deal with UEFA means that they're first single UK broadcaster to won exclusive rights to show live coverage from 2015-2016 season.

BT Sport viewers will get it for free if only they have BT Sports on BT Infinity or Virgin Media. However for Sky customers if they want BT Sports on the Sky satellite platform then they will have to change their broadband from Sky to BT broadband. So it will cost the Sky and the Virgin Media customers more money just so they can change their broadband, TV and telephone contract.

So where does this Champions League and Europa League deal leave the likes of Sky , BBC and ITV from 2015 until after the 2018 World Cup.

I'll give you my own thoughts on that.

Sky UEFA Champions League deal will come to an end after they show the 2015 final. But Sky will say "We still have a strong grip on the Barclays Premier League and always will have a strong grip on the Premier League". Originally Sky show 60 live Premier League games starting from 1992 until 2001. From the 2001-2002 through to the 2003-2004 season Sky increased their Premier League coverage from 60 live matches a season over four years to 110 live and exclusive matches.

By the 2003-2004 season Sky secured the UEFA Champions League coverage sharing with the sole UK broadcaster for many years. ITV. Sky shown 14 live Champions League games from each week of the group stages and shown the final with ITV.

Viewing live and "exclusive" F.A. Barclaycard Premiership as it was known 10 years ago was brilliant and easy to watch. So what if Sky dominated the British sports scene since its inception. Viewers don't really care if Sky or BBC are dominating the Premier League for good 20 years. The viewers will only care about watching football.

However fast-forward to this new era of sports where the Premier League and the Football Association went their own way in 2007.

Where television deals all over the globe are making it difficult for Sky and BT sports viewers to either watch or even go to the match itself. All because of the kick-off times are ridiculous for viewers in China, Thailand, Australia and even Saudi Arabia.

With this BT Sports deal with the champions League looming on us, BBC just got back the F.A. Cup which is also on BT Sports starting from this season for the first time since the 2007-08 season but the contract will be for four seasons starting in 2014/15 season . So what about ITV? Well they have England contract which will run until after the 2018 World Cup.

Well to wrap this article up, do I think BT Sports ridiculous deal with UEFA will make it harder for families to go and watch their team on the weekend? Yes I do. Do I think the ticket prices will increase by 25%? Yes I do. Do I think that football fans will have to fork out somewhere between the region of £55 in a pub just to watch their club? Yes I do. Do I think that BT will take us football fans for ride? Yes I do.

Anyway I think BT Sports have made a huge mistake. Their taking on Sky and sky have beaten their challengers over the last 6 years for mega-buck TV deals. They've all fallen down to Sky brilliant world-class coverage of the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League.

It's a real big shame that Sky and ITV won't be showing the Champions League from 2015. Or is it?

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