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BT is in superior talks to promote its 50 per cent stake in UK broadcaster TNT Sports activities to US three way partnership companion Warner Bros Discovery, in response to two individuals accustomed to the state of affairs.
A deal may very well be introduced as early as subsequent week, they added, when BT is about to launch its full-year outcomes. Nevertheless, that timing may nonetheless slip relying on how negotiations progress, one added.
The transfer would finish BT’s involvement in sports activities broadcasting after greater than a decade, bringing to a detailed the telecoms firm’s a number of billion pound wager that providing unique soccer video games would win it new broadband prospects and hold current ones loyal.
Warner Bros Discovery has an choice to purchase out BT earlier than the tip of subsequent yr. Placing a deal will give the US media big higher management over the way forward for the sporting channels, that are a key a part of its enterprise in Europe.
Sports activities can be a cornerstone of WBD’s streaming service when it launches within the UK subsequent yr, alongside HBO sequence akin to Succession and The White Lotus. The platform — which was this week renamed HBO Max, slightly than simply Max — may also present the brand new Harry Potter sequence.
BT and WBD declined to remark.
BT entered the sports activities rights market in 2012 with an aggressive technique to compete with Sky on the broadcaster’s dwelling turf, matching bundled gives of TV, broadband and cell providers.
Nevertheless, the TNT channels — which have the rights to some unique Premier League soccer video games — have been recognized as non-core by BT chief government Allison Kirkby. Since taking up in February 2024, she has appeared to refocus the corporate on its conventional cell and broadband providing.
TNT has lengthy been a money drain for BT, due to elevated competitors with Sky and Amazon to safe rights for key competitions such because the Premier League. The enterprise booked a £187.5mn pre-tax loss within the 2024 monetary yr, in response to accounts filed on the UK’s Corporations Home.
The three way partnership is valued within the BT accounts at greater than £750mn. Nevertheless, individuals near the talks stated that the e-book worth of the enterprise was not reflective of the deal worth, and that any deal struck with WBD could be considerably decrease than this determine.
TNT Sports activities, which has rights to point out different competitions together with the Uefa Champions League, was created after BT merged its sports activities division with Warner Bros Discovery’s Eurosport UK enterprise in 2022.
The corporate has a four-year deal to air 52 Premier League dwell matches per season till 2029, and a four-year cope with the Soccer Affiliation to point out the FA Cup from 2025.
