General : ESPN, BT, Euro, Premier and Sky Sports news

[Lostlam]

Looks like BT Sports have acquired the rights to the upcoming WC playoffs in Africa according to this site (http://www.live-footballontv.com/), but has there been any official announcement?

[Media Boy UK]

The Independent: BT reveal they are considering bid for Champions League football to rival ITV and Sky Sports.

BT chief executive Gavin Patterson has indicated they may consider bidding for rights to broadcast Champions League matches from 2015.

Sky paid around £240million to share live coverage of the showpiece European matches each week, with ITV's £160m giving the free-to-air-broadcaster first pick of Tuesday night fixtures.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/f...s-8871792.html

[thenry]

yup, they could do with CL but their punditry needs a shake up.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Media Boy

The Independent: BT reveal they are considering bid for Champions League football to rival ITV and Sky Sports.

BT chief executive Gavin Patterson has indicated they may consider bidding for rights to broadcast Champions League matches from 2015.

Sky paid around £240million to share live coverage of the showpiece European matches each week, with ITV's £160m giving the free-to-air-broadcaster first pick of Tuesday night fixtures.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/f...s-8871792.html

So clubs and players will get richer as a result whilst we will to continue to pay more.

[Anypermitedroute]

I think BT need to do this in order to cement their future and be taken seriously as a true alternative to Skysports, other option could be internationals

[alwaysabear]

Originally Posted by thenry

yup, they could do with CL but their punditry needs a shake up.

Absolutely some of them are so frightened to upset their old mates with the truth.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by alwaysabear

Absolutely some of them are so frightened to upset their old mates with the truth.

l always say speak thy mind and if people are upset by it then that's their problem.

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by TonyM19

An update on Premier Sports.

In response to a tweet asking if they were about to appear on VM in the near future:

@south_stander @virginmedia funny you ask. They rejected us again 2 weeks ago and I think that is us done with negotiations.

@south_stander @virginmedia we wanted We wanted 0.3% of what they just paid BT!

and later

@south_stander @virginmedia it has to be SKY or the Premier Player I am afraid. Virgin are not for turning.

I think that just about puts that to bed.

More info from both sides

http://www.loverugbyleague.com/news_...umbles-on.html

[Doug P]

Premier should have taken the offer. They are not major players like Sky and BT and seem to have made a huge blunder not accepting VM's offer.

Nothing on the Twitter account quoted above suggests the "us" is anything but a reference to RL fans who want PS on Virgin or that the writer is anything of an insider who has proof of what was or was not offered it seems to me...

[cityfan247]

currently on Bt and ESPN

ESPN College Football
BT1 MLB play-offs
BT2 College Football

as a big fan of North American sports this is heaven for me. all in HD

The BT/ESPN bundle is so much better than the old ESPN bundle for me.

after these games there are 2 more College Football games and another MLB game across the 3 channels simultaneously. Fantastic.

[alwaysabear]

Originally Posted by cityfan247

currently on Bt and ESPN

ESPN College Football
BT1 MLB play-offs
BT2 College Football

as a big fan of North American sports this is heaven for me. all in HD

The BT/ESPN bundle is so much better than the old ESPN bundle for me.

after these games there are 2 more College Football games and another MLB game across the 3 channels simultaneously. Fantastic.

i have to agree.

[The Yank]

Originally Posted by cityfan247

currently on Bt and ESPN

ESPN College Football
BT1 MLB play-offs
BT2 College Football

as a big fan of North American sports this is heaven for me. all in HD

The BT/ESPN bundle is so much better than the old ESPN bundle for me.

after these games there are 2 more College Football games and another MLB game across the 3 channels simultaneously. Fantastic.

and me - I was skeptical when they took over ESPN but very very pleased how wrong I was - long may it continue.

[harry_hitch]

Originally Posted by denphone

So clubs and players will get richer as a result whilst we will to continue to pay more.

No-one is forced to pay more though Den. Ultimately, people simply choose to pay more.

[Lostlam]

Does anyone actually pay the full price for SS on VM, as it is such a rip off compared to it on Sky?

[Risco]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

More info from both sides

http://www.loverugbyleague.com/news_...umbles-on.html

Don't care, it was a stupid and shortsighted decision to sell to such a small player who has failed miserably in the past with premium rights.