BT Sport is a group of pay television sports channels in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe and

BT Group BT Group plc (trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, broa ...

, they first launched on 1 August 2013. The channels are based at the former

International Broadcast Centre The International Broadcast Centre (IBC) is a temporary hub for broadcasters during major sport events. FIFA World Cup During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, in Germany, the IBC in Munich was host to journalists from around 190 countries. The centre wa ...

at the

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is a sporting complex and public park in Stratford, Hackney Wick, Leyton and Bow, in east London. It was purpose-built for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, situated adjacent to the Stratford City developm ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. BT Sport is available on the

BT TV BT TV is a subscription IPTV service offered by BT; a division of United Kingdom telecommunications company BT Group, and was originally launched as BT Vision in December 2006. As of the end of June 2019, BT TV had 1.9 million customers. ...

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

and

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...

television platforms in the UK and

, Eir TV and

Vodafone TV Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. , Vodafo ...

in the Republic of Ireland. BT Sport holds exclusive live UK and Republic of Ireland TV rights to 52

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

matches per season, the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

, the

European Rugby Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception ...

, the

Premiership Rugby Cup The Premiership Rugby Cup is an English rugby union knockout cup competition for teams in Premiership Rugby. It was created in 2018 to replace the Anglo-Welsh Cup after the withdrawal of the Welsh regions. History The Premiership Rugby Cup was ...

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...

, the

FIH Hockey World League The Men's FIH Hockey World League was an international field hockey competition organised by the International Hockey Federation. The league also served as a qualifier for the 2014 and 2018 Men's Hockey World Cups and the 2016 Olympic Games. Th ...

and

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

. They are also the official broadcast partner of the

European Rugby Champions Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

and

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

History

Premier League deal, launch

News of BT's first foray into sports broadcasting first came about on 12 June 2012, when it was announced that they had won the rights to 38 live

matches for three seasons from the 2013-14 season, beating

ESPN UK BT Sport 4 is a British sports television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA and the BT Group. It is part of the BT Sport group of channels in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and is predominantly focused on sports from North America. ...

, which had held the shared rights with

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

the previous season. BT announced at the same time that it would be launching its own channel for its new football coverage. The news followed speculation that ESPN was reconsidering its position in the UK. The following months also saw BT win rights to

and its associated 7s Series, and American, Brazilian, French and Italian top-flight football. On 25 February 2013, BT announced an agreement to acquire ESPN's television networks in the UK and Ireland, including

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

and international sports channel

ESPN America ESPN America was a British-based European sports network, focusing on professional and collegiate sports of the United States and Canada. Originally launched on 5 December 2002 as NASN (the ''North American Sports Network''), ESPN America broadca ...

; this agreement gave BT rights to the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

beginning in 2013–14, the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

and

through 2015, and the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

through 2017, as well as other international event rights licensed through ESPN. The value of the deal was not disclosed, but BT was understood to be paying "low tens of millions". The deal was expected to close by 31 July, and BT was expected to operate at least one ESPN-branded channel as part of the BT Sport service. BT made other notable rights deals ahead of BT Sport's launch, including

mixed martial arts under a three-year deal, and

beginning in 2014, under a five-year deal. In May 2013, BT announced that BT Sport would be offered for free to its internet subscribers via

streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

. Media analyst Steve Hewlett felt that BT's entry into the sport market was an effort to help strengthen its

triple play In baseball, a triple play (denoted as TP in baseball statistics) is the act of making three outs during the same play. There have only been 733 triple plays in Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1876, an average of just over five per season. Th ...

business and, in particular, help retain internet subscribers lost to Sky (which he believed would result in greater financial loss than those that would be sustained by operating BT Sport). BT Sport launched on 1 August 2013. On 12 August, BT reported that over 1,000,000 households had subscribed to the service ahead of the start of the

2013–14 Premier League The 2013–14 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd season of the Premier League, the top-flight English professional league for men's football clubs, and the 115th season of top-flight Eng ...

, although admitting that the majority of them were BT internet subscribers. On 9 November 2013, BT Sport announced its acquisition of rights to the

and Europa League beginning in 2015–16, under a three-year deal valued at £897 million, replacing Sky and ITV. The interactive service BT Sport Extra launched in 2014. In January 2015, BT Sport renewed its licensing agreement with

ESPN International ESPN International is a family of sportscasting and production networks around the world. It was begun in 1989, is operated by ESPN Inc. and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Operating regions Latin America Spanish-speaking countries * E ...

under a seven-year deal, allowing it to continue operating an ESPN-branded network as part of BT Sport, and hold rights to ESPN original programming, and event broadcast rights that are distributed internationally by ESPN.

UEFA deal, expansion

On 9 June 2015, BT Sport announced it would launch a new channel, BT Sport Europe, which would carry all UEFA Champions League and Europa League matches. Concurrently it was announced that only the BT Sport 1 channel would be free to BT internet subscribers, and that BT Sport 2,

BT Sport ESPN BT Sport 4 is a British sports television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA and the BT Group. It is part of the BT Sport group of channels in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and is predominantly focused on sports from North America. ...

, and BT Sport Europe would require viewers to subscribe for £5 extra. BT also announced a

Freeview HD Freeview is the United Kingdom's sole digital terrestrial television platform. It is operated by Digital UK Ltd and DTV Services Ltd, a joint venture between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky. It was launched on 30 October 2002, taki ...

channel, BT Sport Showcase, which would carry 12 Champions League matches and 14 Europa League matches per season on a free-to-air basis, including at least one match per-round, each English team featured once, and the finals of both tournaments. BT Sport also announced that it would launch BT Sport Ultra HD, the first 4K sports channel in the UK, on 2 August for the 2015 FA Community Shield. The channel would initially be exclusive to BT TV on

BT Infinity BT Superfast Fibre (formerly BT Infinity) is a broadband service in the United Kingdom provided by BT Consumer, the consumer sales arm of the BT Group. The underlying network is fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), which uses optical fibre for all exce ...

, with a 4K service package and compatible

YouView YouView is a hybrid television platform in the United Kingdom developed by YouView TV Ltd., a partnership of four broadcasters, the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5; and three telecommunications operators, Arqiva, BT Group and TalkTalk Group. ...

set-top box. In 2016, BT Sport Europe was renamed BT Sport 3. In 2017, BT Sport began an agreement with boxing promoter Frank Warren, under which Warren's channel

BoxNation BoxNation was a British dedicated boxing subscription television channel, operated by Viaplay. The brand is licensed from George Warren's Queensbury Commercial. History BoxNation was launched by Frank Warren Promotions as a free-to-air channe ...

would be distributed as part of the BT Sport service, and that BT Sport and BoxNation would co-produce 20 cards per-year, which would air on Saturday nights and be simulcast by both networks. In April 2018, BT Sport announced a

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...

service,

BT Sport Box Office BT Sport Box Office is a pay-per-view channel from BT Sport. The channel is available in HD on BT TV and Sky. History In April 2018, BT Sport revealed its intention to launch a pay-per-view channel to show live boxing and it launched on 15 ...

, with an intent to broadcast premium boxing events. On 2 August 2019, BT Sport relaunched its 4K channel as BT Sport Ultimate, and began to offer

Dolby Atmos Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It expands on existing surround sound systems by adding height channels, allowing sounds to be interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horizontal, nor verti ...

sound and high dynamic range (HDR) on supported devices. On 20 June 2019, BT Sport announced an agreement to carry the programming and

s of U.S.

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

promotion

, ending a relationship with Sky Sports that dated back to the network's launch in 1989.

Joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery

In April 2021, it was reported that BT were exploring a sale of all or part of BT Sport, in order to focus more on its fibreoptic services. Rumoured suitors included Amazon.com Inc. (which is one of the Premier League's current rightsholders), the sports streaming provider

DAZN DAZN ( "da zone") is a global sports entertainment platform. Different to traditional linear and satellite broadcasting, DAZN is an over-the-top (OTT) streaming service meaning that it is delivered directly to viewers via the internet. The ...

(which had notably beat out

Sky Italia Sky Italia S.r.l. is an Italian satellite television platform owned by the American media conglomerate Comcast. Sky Italia also broadcasts three national free-to-air television channels: TV8, Cielo and Sky TG24. As of 2018, following an agree ...

for exclusive domestic rights to

football), and ESPN owner

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

. By September 2021, DAZN were reported to be in "advanced talks" with BT. However, in December, it was reported that negotiations had stalled, and that

Discovery Inc. Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Chann ...

—who owns competitor

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...

, and were preparing to merge with

WarnerMedia Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

to form

Warner Bros. Discovery Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at 230 Park Avenue South in New York City. It was formed after the spin-off of WarnerMedia by AT&T, and its merger with D ...

—was negotiating a joint venture with BT to combine their respective networks. In February 2022, the two companies entered exclusive negotiations. On 11 May 2022

Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. The subsidiary is responsible for managing the collection of their cable and satellite networks around the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions. History WarnerMedia ...

(WBD) announced that it had reached an agreement to combine its Eurosport UK business with BT Sport in a 50/50 joint venture, in a transaction scheduled to be completed by the end of 2022 pending approval from regulators and sports bodies. Under the agreement, WBD will assume the operations of BT Sport, and merge them with Eurosport under a new brand at a later date. WBD will pay £93 million to BT over three years; if performance targets are met, WBD will pay a bonus of up to £540 million. The company will also have the option to buy out more of BT's stake in the venture. As part of the agreement, BT agreed to distribute Warner Bros. Discovery's factual streaming service

Discovery+ Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discover ...

—which is the streaming platform of Eurosport—at no charge to most BT TV subscribers, and those who subscribe to BT Sport via the company directly. The venture was approved by the

Competition and Markets Authority The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...

(CMA) on 22 July 2022, and completed on 1 September. On 1 August 2022,

was rebranded as BT Sport 4, while the BT Sport Extra overflow channels were rebranded as BT Sport 5 through 10.

Availability

In the UK, BT Sport is available in standard definition with all BT TV packages for BT Broadband customers. The 4K channel BT Sport Ultimate is also available to

BT Superfast Fibre BT Superfast Fibre (formerly BT Infinity) is a broadband internet access, broadband service in the United Kingdom provided by BT Consumer, the consumer sales arm of the BT Group. The underlying network is fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), which uses o ...

customers for an additional fee. BT Sport operates five part-time overflow channels, originally branded as BT Sport Extra, but branded since August 2022 as BT Sport 5–10. They are carried via the

red button Red button may refer to: *Red Button (digital television), a button on the remote control for certain digital television set top boxes in the United Kingdom and Australia, and used to access interactive television services **BBC Red Button, a digit ...

on Sky, and displayed as individual channels on the BT and

EPGs. On

BT Sport 1 only is currently offered for free to broadband subscribers as 'BT Sport Lite', regardless of what subscription they have. Plusnet TV also offered the same until 1 November 2021 when their TV brand was discontinued, however BT Sport is still available to Plusnet customers via the app service. Customers who wish to view the remaining channels can subscribe to the 'BT Sport Pack' in either standard or high definition. BT also provide broadband subscribers access to the channels via the BT Sport online player and mobile app. Virgin Media customers receive BT Sport 1, 2, 3, 4 , and Ultimate as part of their "Full House" bundle however, they do not receive BoxNation or AMC from BT.

TalkTalk TV TalkTalk TV is a UK-based consumer television and video on demand service, operated by the TalkTalk Group that originally launched in 2000. In September 2012, the current TalkTalk TV was launched in partnership with YouView. Its television an ...

customers must subscribe to the BT Sport Pack in order to receive the entire range of channels. In the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

, BT Sport channels (except Ultimate) are bundled with

Eir Sport Eir Sport (stylised as eir Sport; formerly Setanta Sports) was a group of Irish television sports channels operated by Eircom Sport Limited, a subsidiary of Eir. In December 2015, Eir purchased original Setanta Sports operations in the Republic ...

subscriptions across all platforms, as a part of a deal BT had with its predecessor

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland broadcasting throughout select Eurasian. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to international audiences. The company previo ...

In addition

customers received BT Sport Showcase and Virgin Media customers received BT Sport Free. They closed on 30 June 2018. On 4 December 2018, the SD versions of BT Sport and BT Sport ESPN stopped broadcasting on Virgin Media. On 6 February 2019, BT Sport released the app for

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

. It was later released for

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

on 31 May 2019. On 8 September, 2020 BT Sport also launched on

Fire TV Amazon Fire TV (stylized as amazon fireTV) is a line of digital media players and microconsoles developed by Amazon. The devices are small network appliances that deliver digital audio and video content streamed via the Internet to a connected ...

Android TV Android TV is a smart TV operating system based on Android and developed by Google for television sets, digital media players, set-top boxes, and soundbars. A successor to Google TV, it features a user interface designed around content discovery ...

and the

Roku Roku ( ) is a brand of hardware digital media players manufactured by American company Roku, Inc. They offer access to streaming media content from online services. The first Roku model, developed in collaboration with Netflix, was introduce ...

devices.

Programming

Plans for the channels launch came about when it was announced in June 2012 that the broadcast rights to the

from the 2013–14 to 2015–16 seasons were awarded to BT and

, outbidding existing broadcaster

for the rights. BT showed 38 live matches from the Premier League each season, including 18 first pick matches, from the 2013/14 season til the end of the 2015/16 season. In October 2012, BT announced it had also agreed deals to air

, Brasileirão and

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

, all of which were previously broadcast on ESPN, as well as

. In January 2013, BT announced they would also broadcast

Women's Tennis Association The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women and was founded to create a better future for women's tenni ...

matches from 21 tournaments. On 25 February 2013, BT announced that it had acquired

's UK channels and their sports broadcasting rights, including rights to the

and

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

. This led to the shutting down of

ESPN Classic ESPN Classic was an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns 20%). The channel was originally l ...

and

in favour of the BT Sport channels. On 7 May 2013, BT Sport acquired the rights to air

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

(UFC) events and taped programming in the UK and Ireland for three years, from 1 August. Two days later it was announced that BT Sport had acquired an exclusive five-year deal to broadcast

races from the 2014 season, including free practices and qualifying as well as full coverage of Moto2 and Moto3. BT Sport also broadcasts the

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

and programming from

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...

Media House. On 9 May 2013, BT announced that they had acquired the exclusive UK TV rights to MotoGP along with the Moto2 and Moto3 championships. Later in May, BT Sport acquired rights to the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

for two years with 25-30 live games a season, including the end-of-season play-offs. On 9 November 2013, BT announced a £897 million deal with UEFA to broadcast the Champions League and

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

exclusively on BT Sport from the 2015–16 season for three years. The deal ended two decades of the competition being broadcast free-to-air on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

, although BT stated that the finals of both competitions and at least one match per season involving each participating British team would still be broadcast free-to-air. In January 2014, it was reported that BT Sport had acquired the rights to broadcast the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

for the 2014 season.

Football coverage

Studio hosts

Studio Analysts

Lead Commentator

Bold Indicates BT Sport’s main commentator for that competition

Co-commentators

Reporters

Premier League

BT Sport currently has the rights to show 68 live Premier League matches in 2020–21 and 52 live matches per season between 2021–22 and 2024–25 seasons. Their packages (A and G) give BT the rights to 20 second pick and 12 fifth pick matches. The coverage for the current rights period see BT Sport showing live matches on Saturday lunchtimes at 12:30 pm, they will also show midweek matches and 5 matches from the split weekend. The rights to the Premier League are shared with

and

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

, who have 128 live matches, and 20 live matches respectively. The

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

, have highlights of all matches on ''

Match of the Day ''Match of the Day'' (abbreviated to ''MOTD'') is a football highlights programme, typically broadcast on BBC One on Saturday nights, during the Premier League season. The show's current presenter is former England international striker Gary L ...

''. Premier League matches are anchored by presenter,

Lynsey Hipgrave Lynsey Hipgrave (née Horn; born 6 September 1979) is an English television, radio presenter and journalist, currently working for BT Sport. Broadcasting career Radio Hipgrave's initial break came on Manchester radio station Galaxy 102 where she p ...

Matt Smith Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as the Eleventh Doctor, eleventh incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the BBC series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Daemon Targarye ...

Jake Humphrey Jacob John Humphrey DL (born 7 October 1978) is an English television presenter, best known for hosting Champions League and Premier League football on BT Sport, CBBC's Bamzooki, and BBC Sport's coverage of Formula 1 Grand Prix. He is the co- ...

, or

Darrell Currie Darrell Currie (born 1982) is a Scottish television presenter and journalist. He is currently a presenter and touchline reporter for BT Sport, where he covers English and Scottish football. He also is part of the ESPN football coverage team. ...

also present when there is more than one game broadcast on BT across a matchweek. Studio pundits include

Rio Ferdinand Rio Gavin Ferdinand (born 7 November 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back, and is now a television pundit for BT Sport. He played 81 times for the England national team between 1997 and 2011, and was ...

Joe Cole Joseph John Cole (born 8 November 1981) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or winger in the Premier League, Ligue 1, League One and United Soccer League. He is regarded as one ...

Peter Crouch Peter James Crouch (born 30 January 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was capped 42 times by the England national team between 2005 and 2010, scoring 22 goals for his country during that time, and ...

Michael Owen Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City, as well as for the England national team. Since r ...

Paul Scholes Paul Scholes (born 16 November 1974) is an English football coach, pundit, former player, and co-owner of Salford City. He spent his entire professional playing career with Manchester United, for whom he scored over 150 goals in more than 700 ...

Owen Hargreaves Owen Lee Hargreaves (born 20 January 1981) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was known as a hard-working and "solid defensive midfielder who worked tirelessly to win the ball" and provide his teammates with posses ...

Jermaine Jenas Jermaine Anthony Jenas ( ; born 18 February 1983) is an English television presenter, football pundit and former professional footballer. He played as a central midfielder for English club sides Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, Tottenham ...

Martin Keown Martin Raymond Keown (; born 24 July 1966) is an English football pundit and former professional footballer who played as a defender from 1984 to 2005, notably in the Premier League for Arsenal, where he made over 400 appearances for the club a ...

Robbie Savage Robert William Savage (born 18 October 1974) is a Welsh former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder, now a association football, football pundit and director of football at club Macclesfield F.C., Macclesfie ...

Glenn Hoddle Glenn Hoddle (born 27 October 1957) is an English former football player and manager. He currently works as a television pundit and commentator for ITV Sport and BT Sport. He played as a midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur, Monaco, Chelsea and Swi ...

Steve McManaman Steven McManaman (born 11 February 1972) is an English former footballer who played as a winger for Liverpool, Real Madrid and Manchester City. McManaman is one of the most decorated English footballers to have played for a club abroad and is ...

and

Chris Sutton Christopher Roy Sutton (born 10 March 1973) is an English former professional football player and manager. He later became a pundit and commentator for BT Sport, regularly working on their coverage of Scottish football. He is now also a pundit ...

. Lead commentary is provided by

Darren Fletcher Darren Barr Fletcher (born 1 February 1984) is a Scottish football coach and former professional player who is currently the technical director of Manchester United, where he spent the majority of his playing career. He mostly played as a cent ...

and

Ian Darke Ian Darke (born 1954) is an English association football and boxing commentator who currently works for ESPN and BT Sport. Darke was previously one of Sky's "Big Four" football commentators alongside Martin Tyler, Alan Parry and Rob Hawthorne. ...

, with

Paul Dempsey Paul Anthony Dempsey (born 25 May 1976) is an Australian musician. He is best known as the lead singer, guitarist and principal lyricist of rock group Something for Kate. Dempsey released his debut solo album, '' Everything Is True'', on 20 Au ...

, Adam Summerton and Rory Hamilton occasionally appearing, while co-commentary is provided by

and

. BT sport typically uses field two commentators for most of matches they broadcast, one lead commentator and one co-commentor, but for bigger games they sometimes may field three commentators, using two co-commentators. The main match reporter is Des Kelly, however, Andy May,

Reshmin Chowdhury Reshmin Chowdhury ( bn, রেশমিন চৌধুরী; born 16 December 1977) is a British-Bangladeshi sports journalist broadcaster and event host. She currently lead presents live Premier League football on Talksport every Saturday ...

and

all occasionally appear as reporters too.

=BT Sport Score

BT Sport Score ''BT Sport Score'' is a weekly television programme broadcast on BT Sport during the football season. The programme updates viewers on the progress of football games in the United Kingdom on Saturday afternoons between 2:45pm and 5pm. ''BT Spor ...

is a weekly television programme broadcast on BT Sport during the football season. The programme was launched in 2016 to rival the BBC's ''

Final Score ''Final Score'' is a BBC Television football news and results programme produced by BBC Sport. The programme is broadcast on late Saturday afternoons in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, usually on BBC One. BBC Northern Ireland opts away dur ...

'' and Sky Sports' ''

Soccer Saturday ''Gillette Labs Soccer Saturday'' is a weekly television programme broadcast on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and Ireland during the football season. The programme updates viewers on the progress of association football games in the United ...

''. The programme updates viewers on the progress of association football games in the United Kingdom on Saturday afternoons between 2:45 pm and 5:00 pm. Darrell Currie and

Jules Breach Jules Breach is a British sports Television presenter, broadcaster. Early and personal life Breach was born in Brighton, Sussex. She moved with her family to Mauritius until she was 5 at which point she returned to the UK and attended St Mary� ...

present BT Sport Score with Breach giving updates on

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

games, Fantasy football and social media. Usual pundits on the programme include

Karen Carney Karen Julia Carney (born 1 August 1987) is an English sports journalist and former professional footballer who played as a winger and midfielder. Carney has been a regular broadcaster for live football on Sky Sports and Amazon Prime, includi ...

and

, along with various other guests, with ex Premier League referee, Peter Walton providing analysis on refereeing across the games.

European Club Competitions

BT Sport has exclusive live coverage of the

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...

and

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their ...

until 2024.

=UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League On Air-Team

= Presenters: Studio Pundits: Lead Commentators: Co-commentators: Reporters: * Des Kelly *

* Andy May *Chris Ford

=Broadcasting teams for UEFA Champions League Finals

= *

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

- Presented by Gary Lineker with Rio Ferdinand and Steve McManaman. Darren Fletcher and Owen Hargreaves commentating, Howard Webb providing referee analysis, with Des Kelly, Matt Smith and Reshmin Chowdhury reporting. *

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

- Presented by Gary Lineker with Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard. Darren Fletcher and Steve McManaman commentating, with Des Kelly, Matt Smith and Reshmin Chowdhury reporting. Ian Darke and Owen Hargreaves commentating for BT Sport 4K UHD, and Seb Hutchinson commentating for BT Sport VR. *

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

- Presented by Gary Lineker with Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard. Darren Fletcher, Steve McManaman and Glenn Hoddle commentating, with Des Kelly and Reshmin Chowdhury reporting. *

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

- Presented by Gary Lineker with Rio Ferdinand, Michael Owen and Glenn Hoddle. Darren Fletcher, Jermaine Jenas and Steve McManaman commentating, Peter Walton providing referee analysis, with Des Kelly, Lynsey Hipgrave and Reshmin Chowdhury reporting. Peter Drury and Owen Hargreaves commentating for BT Sport HDR, and Seb Hutchinson and Spencer Owen commentating for BT Sport VR. *

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

- Presented by Gary Lineker with Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves. Darren Fletcher and Steve McManaman commentating, Peter Walton providing referee analysis, with Des Kelly reporting. *

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

- Presented by Gary Lineker with Rio Ferdinand, Joleon Lescott and Joe Cole. Darren Fletcher, Steve McManaman and Glenn Hoddle commentating, with Des Kelly reporting. *

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

- Presented by Jake Humphrey with Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard and Peter Crouch in the main set and Seema Jaswal, Michael Owen and Owen Hargreaves on the pitchside. Darren Fletcher, Steve McManaman and Glenn Hoddle commentating, Des Kelly reporting and Peter Walton providing referee analysis.

=UEFA Super Cup

= Since 2015, BT Sport have had exclusive live coverage of the

. In

Gary Lineker Gary Winston Lineker (; born 30 November 1960) is an English former professional footballer and current sports broadcaster. He is regarded as having been one of the greatest English strikers. His media career began with the BBC, where he has p ...

presented alongside

and

Steve Mcmanaman Steven McManaman (born 11 February 1972) is an English former footballer who played as a winger for Liverpool, Real Madrid and Manchester City. McManaman is one of the most decorated English footballers to have played for a club abroad and is ...

and

commentated, with Des Kelly and

both reporting.

Vanarama National League

BT Sport has exclusive rights to the Vanarama National League covering 1 game a weekend.

is the main presenter, often being joined by pundits

Grant Holt Grant Holt (born 12 April 1981) is an English former professional footballer who is currently a scout at West Ham United. During his football career, Holt played for a number of non-league and professional clubs, making nearly 100 league appeara ...

Chris Hargreaves Christian Hargreaves (born 12 May 1972) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward and a midfielder from 1989 until 2010. He subsequently managed Torquay United from January 2014 until June 2015, and Yeovil Town from May ...

and

Kevin Davies Kevin Cyril Davies (born 26 March 1977) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker for Chesterfield, Southampton, Blackburn Rovers, Millwall, Bolton Wanderers and Preston North End. He managed Southport in the 2017� ...

with Davies very occasionally providing co-commentary. Match commentator Adam Summerton is joined by

Adam Virgo Adam John Virgo (born 25 January 1983) is a former professional footballer, who now works as a pundit and commentator. Playing career Early career From the age of seven Virgo played for the St. Aubyns Preparatory School football team. At 13 h ...

in the commentary box. Reporters include,

Jeff Brazier Jeffrey Carl Brazier (born 27 May 1979) is an English television personality and presenter. Early life and education Brazier was brought up in Tiptree, near Colchester in Essex, and attended Thurstable School, a mixed state comprehensive scho ...

and Natalie Quirk, and occasionally, Becky Ives.

FA Trophy and FA Vase

BT have the full exclusive rights to the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

and

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

finals every year from Wembley. Most recently in 2019,

presented the games with

Peter Drury Peter Drury (born 24 September 1967) is a British sports commentator who currently works for NBC Sports as the lead main (play-by-play) commentator for its Premier League coverage in the United States. Prior to joining NBC Sports, Drury was the ...

and

commentating on the 2019 FA Vase Final and Adam Summerton and

commentating on the 2019 FA Trophy Final, with

reporting across both games.

Ligue 1

BT Sport currently have exclusive rights to

. Lead commentators on Ligue 1 action comes from Wayne Boyce,

Simon Brotherton Simon Charles Brotherton is a sports commentator for the BBC, appearing on Match of the Day and BBC Radio Five Live, as well as BT Sport television. Brotherton was still at school when he began his career with BBC Local Radio and developed furth ...

Dave Farrar Dave Farrar is a British broadcaster, specialising in television football commentary. He was Eurosport's number one commentator for ten years, joining the network in 1999 after spells with BBC Radio Lancashire and the BBC World Service as a repl ...

, James Fielden, Seb Hutchinson,

Alistair Mann Alistair Mann is a freelance football commentator and TV sports presenter. He was born in Salford and attended Manchester Grammar School. He trained as a journalist at the department of Journalism, Media and Communication, University of Central ...

, Dan Mason, Jonathan Pearce, John Roder, Dan Roebuck, Adam Summerton, Paul Walker, Oliver Wilson and

Steven Wyeth Steven Wyeth is a British football commentator for the BBC and TNT Sports amongst others. Early life Wyeth attended the University of Manchester and commented on Manchester United for Manchester Sports and for BBC Radio Manchester. Career Comme ...

. The co-commentators include

Clive Allen Clive Darren Allen (born 20 May 1961) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward for seven different London clubs. Allen was a prolific striker throughout his career ...

Tony Dorigo Anthony Robert Dorigo (born 31 December 1965) is a former professional footballer, sports pundit and co-commentator. As a player, he was a defender from 1983 to 2001. He had lengthy spells in the old First Division for both Aston Villa and Che ...

Efan Ekoku Efangwu Goziem Ekoku (born 8 June 1967) is a former Nigerian professional footballer, and sports commentator. As a player, he was a striker who notably played in the Premier League for Norwich City and Wimbledon and in Switzerland for Grassho ...

Kevin Gallacher Kevin William Gallacher (born 23 November 1966) is a Scottish former professional footballer and football pundit and co-commentator. He played as a forward from 1983 until 2002, notably in the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers where he was p ...

Don Hutchison Donald Hutchison (born 9 May 1971) is a former professional footballer. Hutchison is a football television pundit and commentator for Talksport and ESPN FC. As a player, Hutchison was a midfielder, who played in the Premier League for Liverpoo ...

, Chris Perry,

Stewart Robson Stewart Ian Robson (born 6 November 1964) is an English former football player and TV and radio football pundit. He played for Arsenal, West Ham United where he was their player of the season in 1988, and Coventry City. After his footballing c ...

Nigel Spackman Nigel James Spackman (born 2 December 1960) is an English football manager, former professional footballer and sports television pundit. As a player he was as a midfielder from 1980 to 1998, notably for Liverpool, Chelsea and Rangers. He also p ...

and

Serie A

BT Sport announced they had regained

rights in a three-season deal until the end of the 2023/24 season. At least five live games will be shown each round, totalling more than 200 live games across the season. It also announced that James Richardson will also host a new weekly Serie A show talking about all the main stories from each round of action. BT previously held exclusive rights to the Serie A until the end of 2017-18 season.

Coppa Italia

BT Sport also airing the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

plus Supercoppa. The same commentators heard on BT's coverage of Ligue 1 can also be heard on Coppa Italia.

A-League

BT Sport currently have exclusive rights to the

where

Paramount+ Australia Paramount Networks UK & Australia (formerly ViacomCBS Networks UK & Australia) is a subsidiary of Paramount Global. The unit launched in 2020 and is based in London, United Kingdom, with a local office in Sydney, Australia. Units See also ...

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

commentators and pundits are used.

Canadian Premier League

From April 2022, BT Sport secured rights to show live coverage of the

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; french: Première ligue canadienne, links=no) is a professional men's Association football, soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary nationa ...

; simultaneously sealing a deal to show

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

women's international friendly double-header against

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

the same month.

Rugby union coverage

Premiership Rugby

BT became a senior broadcast partner of

in 2013–14. The original Premiership coverage deal ran until the 2016–17 season and allowed BT Sport to exclusively broadcast up to 69 live games per season. The Aviva Premiership's viewing figures rose by 40% in TV audiences in its first season with BT Sport. A third deal was signed in December 2020 to cover Premiership Rugby and the Premiership Rugby Cup until 2024. The deal covers up to 80 matches a season from 2016–17 and introduced an extended highlights programme from the 2015–16 season. Subsequently, in 2017 Channel 5 announced a deal that would see them simulcast five matches per season until the end of the 2020–21 season.

subsequently took over the simulcasting rights, broadcasting up to 6 league season matches and the final between the 2021–22 and 2023–24 seasons. The deal with BT Sport also sees them exclusively broadcast the league's associated sevens series and the

. BT Sport also had exclusive live rights to the

Anglo-Welsh Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...

from 2016–17 until its final competition in 2017–18.

European Professional Club Rugby

BT originally shared rights to

European Professional Club Rugby European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) is the governing body and organiser of the two major European rugby union club tournaments: the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup. A third tournament, the European Rugby Chal ...

(EPCR)'s

champions A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the Victory, victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and w ...

and challenge cups with Sky Sports. The shared nature of the deal meant each broadcaster would exclusively broadcast up to 30 pool matches, 2 quarter-finals and 1 semi-final from each competition with the finals being shown by both. BT also received first pick on Champions Cup matches involving Premiership Rugby clubs. For seven seasons from the 2018–19 season, BT Sport became the official broadcast partner of the Champions and Challenge cups and broadcast up to 134 matches per season. The Challenge Cup will be shown exclusively on BT Sport whilst broadcasting of the Champions Cup was shared with

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

in the UK and

Virgin Media Sport Virgin Media Sport (formerly TV3 Sport) is a sports production unit at Virgin Media Television in Ireland which produces specialist sports content for its television channels Virgin Media One, Virgin Media Two, and Virgin Media Three. The depa ...

in the Republic of Ireland until 2022 and with

and

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

from 2022 to 2024. Both channels simulcast one match from each round and the final.

Craig Doyle Craig Doyle (born 17 December 1970, Dublin) is an Irish television and radio presenter. To British viewers he is recognisable as working for the BBC and ITV and more recently BT Sport. Irish viewers also know him as the host of RTÉ One chat ...

is the main presenter with

Martin Bayfield Martin Christopher Bayfield (born 21 December 1966) is an English actor, broadcaster, and former rugby union player who played lock forward for Northampton Saints, Bedford Blues and England, gaining 31 England and 3 Lions caps. Early life and ...

and Sarra Elgan also presenting.

Lawrence Dallaglio Lorenzo Bruno Nero Dallaglio (born 10 August 1972), known as Lawrence Dallaglio, is an English retired rugby union player, former captain of England, and 2016 inductee of the World Rugby Hall of Fame. He played as a flanker or number eight ...

Ben Kay Benedict James Kay MBE (born 14 December 1975) is a retired English international rugby union footballer who played Second row forward for Leicester Tigers and . Background Kay was born in Liverpool, the only son of Lord Justice of Appeal Si ...

David Flatman David Luke Flatman (born 21 January 1980) is an English sports pundit and former rugby union player who played prop. Flatman represented eight times between 2000 and 2002, playing club rugby for Saracens and Bath. Flatman is routinely refer ...

Austin Healey Austin Sean Healey (born 26 October 1973 in Wallasey (now part of Merseyside, formerly Cheshire), is a former English rugby union player who played as a utility back for Leicester Tigers, and represented both England and the British & Irish L ...

Brian O'Driscoll Brian Gerard O'Driscoll (born 21 January 1979) is an Irish former professional rugby union player. He played at outside centre for the Irish provincial team Leinster and for Ireland. He captained Ireland from 2003 until 2012, and captained the ...

and

Ugo Monye Ugochukwu Chiedozie Monye (born 13 April 1983) is an English sports pundit and former rugby union player, Monye played 14 times for , 241 times for his only club Harlequins and played twice for the British & Irish Lions on their 2009 tour to ...

provide further punditry and co-commentary. The reporters include Bayfield and Elgan as well as, Tim Cocker. BT Sport usually have one forward and one back acting as co-commentators on every match so one of Dallaglio, Kay or Flatman along with one of Healey, O'Driscoll or Monye join the lead commentator,

Nick Mullins Nick Mullins (born 31 January 1966) is a British journalist and sports commentator, primarily working on BT Sport's Premiership Rugby coverage. Early life Mullins began his career as a journalist with the ''Loughborough Trader'' and ''Loughboro ...

or Alastair Eykyn in the commentary box. On BT's coverage of the Champions Cup, as well as those used on the Premiership rugby coverage, guest pundits and guest co-commentators are regularly used. In addition to Mullins and Eykyn, freelance lead commentators such as

Andrew Cotter Andrew Douglas Millar Cotter (born 20 July 1973) is a Scottish sports presenter, sports broadcaster working primarily for the BBC, covering mainly golf and rugby union, but also tennis, Sport of athletics, athletics and The Boat Race. Personal ...

, Martin Gillingham,

Ryle Nugent Ryle Nugent was born in Dublin and is an Irish sports broadcaster, reporter and former Head of RTÉ Sport. Prior to his appointment, he was RTÉ's commissioning editor for sport primarily specialising in rugby union. He is the resident rugby unio ...

, Hugh Cahill, Scott Hastings and Sara Orchard are used, and along with Bayfield, Elgan and Cocker,

Jill Douglas Jill Alison Douglas (born December 1969), also known as Jill Douglas Hogg, is a Scottish sports presenter, who appears on ITV, BBC and BT Sport. She grew up in Bonchester Bridge in the Scottish Borders. She was educated at Jedburgh Grammar Sc ...

, Ross Harries,

Sonja McLaughlan Sonja McLaughlan (born 9 September 1962) is a British sports broadcaster. She joined the corporation in 1988, and has since covered seven Summer Olympics (from Atlanta 1996 to Tokyo 2020). McLaughlan is the producer for the BBC’s rugby union co ...

and Lauren Smith are also involved with presenting and reporting on coverage too.

Cricket coverage

In August 2015, it was announced that BT Sport had claimed the rights for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

's home matches for five years starting in the 2016-17 season. This means that BT would show

The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, ''The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Te ...

series between

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

in 2017-18 with deal also including the

Big Bash League The Big Bash League (known as the KFC Big Bash League for sponsorship reasons, often abbreviated to BBL or Big Bash) is an Australian professional club Twenty20 cricket league, which was established in 2011 by Cricket Australia. The Big Bash Le ...

the Women's Ashes The Women's Ashes is the perpetual trophy in women's international cricket series between England and Australia. The name derives from the historic precedent of the Ashes in male cricket and, until 2013, was similarly decided exclusively on the ...

and the

Women's Big Bash League The Women's Big Bash League (known as the WBBL and, for sponsorship reasons, the Weber WBBL) is the Australian women's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition. The WBBL replaced the Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup, which ran from the 2007–08 ...

. From the 2018-19 Australian cricketing summer through to 2020-21, BT Sport took feeds from Australian broadcasters,

Fox Cricket Fox Cricket is an Australian subscription television channel dedicated to screening cricket (both domestic and international) matches and related programming. It is owned by Fox Sports Pty Limited and is available throughout Australia on Foxtel. ...

and Channel 7, with coverage being introduced out-of-vision by

Simon Hughes Sir Simon Henry Ward Hughes (born 17 May 1951) is a former British politician. He is now the Chancellor of London South Bank University, an External Adviser to The Open University, and UK Strategic Adviser to Talgo. Hughes was Deputy Leader ...

Charles Dagnall Charles Edward Dagnall (born 10 July 1976), also known as Charlie Dagnall, is a cricket commentator and former first-class cricketer who played as a right-arm fast bowling, fast-medium bowler for Cumberland County Cricket Club, Cumberland, Warwi ...

. As of 2021, BT Sport have secured rights to all international and domestic cricket played in West Indies and New Zealand, which includes England's tour to the West Indies in 2022. In November 2021, BT renewed their deal with Cricket Australia which sees them cover matches until 2025. This includes the

2021–22 Ashes series The 2021–22 Ashes series, named the Vodafone Men's Ashes Series for sponsorship reasons, was a series of five Test cricket matches that were contested between England and Australia for The Ashes. The series was played at five venues across Au ...

, but excludes the Big Bash League and Women's Big Bash League.

Motorsport coverage

BT Sport has rights to numerous British, European, American and global motorsport series both in live and highlights form.

MotoGP

is BT Sport's flagship motorsports event and in addition to the main MotoGP event, BT shows the

Moto2 Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start of ...

Moto3 Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start of ...

, Red Bull Rookies and CEV Repsol championships.

Suzi Perry Suzi Perry (born 3 May 1970) is a British television presenter, currently covering MotoGP for BT Sport. She is best known for covering MotoGP for the BBC for 13 years, ''The Gadget Show'' on Channel 5 for 8 years and the BBC's Formula One cove ...

hosts the coverage alongside pundits

Colin Edwards Colin Edwards II (born February 27, 1974), nicknamed the "Texas Tornado", is an American former professional motorcycle racer who retired half-way through the 2014 season, but continues in the sport as a factory test rider. He is a two-time Wo ...

Sylvain Guintoli Sylvain Guintoli (born 24 June 1982 in Montélimar) is a French professional motorcycle racer. He was FIM World Superbike Champion in 2014. He is contracted to the Suzuki MotoGP team as a test rider with occasional race entries, as a wild car ...

Michael Laverty Michael Laverty (born 7 June 1981) is an occasional motorcycle racer from Toomebridge, Northern Ireland. After participating in the 2017 season in the British Superbike Championship aboard a Yamaha YZF-R1, and the 2018 season on a Tyco BMW, ...

and

Neil Hodgson Neil Stuart Hodgson (born 20 November 1973) is a British former motorcycle racer, who won the 2000 British Superbike Championship, and the 2003 Superbike World Championship titles. He then went on to have a moderately successful four years in t ...

. Commentary is provided by Gavin Emmett and Hodgson, with Charlie Hiscott joined for Friday sessions coverage. Natalie Quirk appears as reporter. Emmett also presents ''Chequered Flag'' which is aired after the MotoGP race has finished.

Motorcycle Speedway

BT Sport also broadcasts

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only ...

including, the Premiership Speedway,

Speedway Grand Prix Speedway Grand Prix are a series of stand-alone motorcycle speedway events over the course of a season used to determine the Speedway World Champion. The series started in 1995 replacing the previous format of a single event final. The first win ...

and the

Speedway of Nations The Speedway of Nations is a speedway event for national teams, held each year in a different country. The first edition of the competition in the current format took place in 2018, replacing the Speedway World Cup on the international calendar. I ...

. Natalie Quirk and

Scott Nicholls Scott Karl Nicholls (born 16 May 1978) is a British speedway rider, who has won the British Championship seven times,Kelvin Tatum Kelvin Martin Tatum MBE (born 8 February 1964, in Epsom, Surrey) is a former British international motorcycle speedway and grasstrack rider. Career Tatum attended Brighton College from 1977 to 1980. He started riding speedway bikes at Hackney' ...

with Steve Brandon, the reporter.

Other International Motorsport Events

Other live series include the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercont ...

FIA European Formula Three Championship The FIA Formula 3 European Championship was a European Formula Three(F3) auto racing competition, organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). After one season of the FIA Formula 3 International Trophy, the FIA revived th ...

International GT Open The International GT Open is a grand tourer-style sports car racing series founded in 2006 by the Spanish GT Sport Organización. It was a spin-off of the now-defunct Spanish GT Championship, but is now a distinct series featuring FIA GT3-spec car ...

World Series by Renault The Renault Sport Series (formerly known as World Series by Renault) is a motor racing series. The series latterly consisted of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, and used to contain the Renault Sport Trophy and the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. T ...

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) is a grand touring car series sanctioned by ITR e.V. who have been affiliated to the DMSB-FIA since 1984. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The ser ...

, and the Australian

Supercars Championship The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

where the world feed is taken directly from the host broadcaster. Highlights packages are also shown on BT Sport for series such as

BRDC Formula 4 Championship The GB3 Championship is a single seater motorsport series based in the United Kingdom. The championship is the UK's premier single-seater category, and is aimed at young racing drivers moving up from FIA Formula 4 championships or Karting. H ...

and the

British Formula Three Championship British Formula Three Championship may refer to: *British Formula 3 International Series, a class of auto racing for Formula 3 open wheeled single seater racing cars, which took place from 1951 to 2014 *BRDC British Formula 3 Championship Th ...

American sports coverage

BT Sport shows extensive coverage of American sports, including

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB), American College sports (

NCAA football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most o ...

and

NCAA basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

Major League Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This was followed by a four-team playoff f ...

(MLL), and the

X Games The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...

. BT Sport has a long-term agreement with

to carry its original programming (including original documentaries and studio programmes), and events whose international rights are owned by

Combat sports coverage

Mixed martial arts

BT Sport holds the UK rights to

programming, most recently renewed in 2018, including live events and other non-live programming. They also broadcast

Cage Warriors Cage Warriors (CW) is an Irish owned mixed martial arts promotion, based in London, England. The promotion was established in 2001 and staged its first MMA event in London in July, 2002. Many MMA stars have made their names under the Cage Warrio ...

events on occasions. Since

UFC 239 ''UFC 239: Jones vs. Santos'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that was held on July 6, 2019 at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area. Background A UFC Light ...

, selected UFC pay-per-view events have now been carried exclusively on

, and are no longer included at no additional charge—a move which faced criticism from domestic fans. BT Sports first ever live event was August 3, 2013 of which was

UFC 163 ''UFC 163: Aldo vs. Korean Zombie'' was a mixed martial arts event held on August 3, 2013, at the HSBC Arena in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Background The main event was expected to feature current UFC Featherweight Champion, José Aldo taking on fut ...

headlined by

José Aldo José Aldo da Silva Oliveira Júniorhttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/CI3oOc0VAAAr_iv.jpg (, born 9 September 1986), commonly anglicized as Jose Aldo, is a retired Brazilian professional mixed martial artist. He last competed in the Ultimate Fight ...

and

The Korean Zombie Jung Chan-sung ( ko, 정찬성; born March 17, 1987), anglicized as Chan Sung Jung and better known by his ring name The Korean Zombie, is a South Korean professional mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He currently competes in the Featherweight ...

. BT Sport have been highly praised by the UFC and fans alike for their coverage and work on their promo's. They have also created their own original programming to go alongside this such as

Dan Hardy Daniel Mark Hardyhttp://boxing.nv.gov/2012%20Results%20Web/05-26-12%20MMA.pdf (born 17 May 1982) is an English former mixed martial artist who fought in the welterweight division. During his professional MMA career, which began in 2004, Hardy ...

's Breakdown Show, preview and post fight shows and even hosting their own awards show with Nick Peet, Adam Catterall and UFC Hall of Famer

Michael Bisping Michael Gavin Joseph Bisping (; born 28 February 1979) is an English actor, sports analyst, commentator and retired mixed martial artist, who competed in the Middleweight and Light Heavyweight division of the UFC. A professional competitor ...

. BT Sport will often air UFC produced shows during their programming such as UFC Now, Connected, Main Event, Greatest Fights, Countdown and more. BT Sport is looking to renew the UFC rights until 2025.

Boxing

Since 2017 BT Sport has an association with

to show certain live fights from Frank Warren Promotions. On 15 September 2018 BT Sport showed its first boxing

boxing event - the rematch between

Gennady Golovkin Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin (Cyrillic: ; also spelled Gennady; born 8 April 1982), often known by his nickname "GGG" or "Triple G", is a Kazakhstani professional boxer. He has held multiple middleweight world championships, and is a two-time ...

and

Saul Alvarez Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered tri ...

and on 1 December 2018 BT showed the

Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury was a professional boxing match that took place on December 1, 2018, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Undefeated defending WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder faced undefeated challenger and f ...

fight. Both were shown on BT's pay-per-view channel

leads the coverage alongside

Richie Woodhall Richie Woodhall (born 17 April 1968) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1990 to 2000. He held the WBC super-middleweight title from 1998 to 1999, as well as the Commonwealth middleweight title from 1992 to 1995, and th ...

Steve Bunce Steve Bunce (born 3 December 1962 in Camden Town, London), nicknamed "Buncey", is a British freelance television and radio sport pundit and newspaper columnist. Career He has regularly appeared as a pundit on the BBC sports programme ''Inside ...

and other guests.

John Rawling John Rawling is a British boxing, track and field, darts and yachting commentator, currently working for BT Sport, ITV and Talksport. He has become known as one of the best known voices of boxing commentary. With BT, John commentates alongside ...

and Barry Jones provide commentary with Caroline Pearce or Ronald McIntosh the ringside reporters.

Professional wrestling

On June 20, 2019, U.S.

promotion

announced that its programming would move to BT Sport in the beginning of 2020 (with pay-per-view programs sold via BT Sport Box Office), ending a relationship with Sky Sports that dated back to the network's launch in 1989. As well as live shows, BT Sport also shows repeated highlights of

Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

SmackDown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes simulc ...

NXT NXT may refer to: Professional wrestling * ''WWE NXT'', a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that began in 2010 ** NXT (WWE brand), WWE's Florida-based brand and former developmental territory * ''NXT UK'', the British spin- ...

NXT UK ''NXT UK'' is a professional wrestling television programme that was produced exclusively in the United Kingdom by the American promotion WWE. It aired on BT Sport and 5Action (previously known as Paramount Network). In the United States, the s ...

and pay-per-views. In addition, they show certain

WWE Network WWE Network is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and digital television network owned by the American entertainment company WWE. It primarily distributes original professional wrestling events, films, television and ...

programs, such as WWE Ruthless Aggression and WWE 24, as well as special editions of No Filter WWE. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, WWE were unable to film their NXT UK shows under typical circumstances. To resolve this, BT let WWE utilize a set at the BT London Studios. NXT UK recommenced tapings on September 17, 2020.

World Poker Tour

In February, the

World Poker Tour The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the fi ...

(WPT) announced a new deal with BT Sports to broadcast the World Poker Tour in the UK and Ireland across BT Sports networks. The company will broadcast season XV of the WPT, which took place from 2016–2017. Highlights from the season include the first WPT victory of poker commentator

Mike Sexton Michael Richard Sexton (September 22, 1947September 6, 2020) was an American professional poker player and commentator. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2009. Early years Sexton was a gymnast and attended Ohio State University, wh ...

and the first victory by a woman in an open WPT event.

Previous coverage

Football

FA Cup

BT Sport obtained the rights to the FA Cup through its acquisition of ESPN, who had one year remaining in their existing contract. In 2016, BT Group extended its contract with

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

to show up to 30 live games a season from the competition from 2018–19 to 2020–21. In the first and second rounds,

hosted the coverage. Lead commentary on these games was provided by Adam Summerton,

and

, alongside co-commentators,

and

. Reporters on these games included, Andy May, Natalie Quirk,

and Becky Ives. From the third round onwards,

hosted, alongside pundits taken from the Premier League coverage. Lead commentators included, Darke, Dempsey and Summerton as well as,

and

, and co-commentators included,

and

. Reporters included, Des Kelly,

and Andy May. The

2021 FA Cup Final The 2021 FA Cup Final was an association football match played between Chelsea and Leicester City at Wembley Stadium, London, England on 15 May 2021. Organised by the Football Association (FA), it was the 140th final of the Football Associatio ...

was the last FA Cup game covered on BT Sport, with

regaining the rights from the 2021–22 season onwards.

FA Community Shield

From 2015 to 2020, BT Sport held exclusive live coverage of the

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

. From 2021, these rights transferred to

Scottish Professional Football League

BT hosted rights to show 30

Scottish Professional Football League The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As ...

games a season, sharing the rights with

and

BBC Alba BBC Alba is a Scottish Gaelic-language free-to-air public broadcast television channel jointly owned by the BBC and MG Alba. The channel was launched on 19 September 2008 and is on-air for up to seven hours a day with BBC Radio nan Gàidheal s ...

was the main presenter with pundits including

Stephen Craigan Stephen James Craigan (born 29 October 1976) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer. He played in central defence, and spent his entire playing career in Scotland, playing for Motherwell (twice) and Partick Thistle. He has also pl ...

Ally McCoist Alistair Murdoch McCoist, (; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former footballer who has since worked as a manager and TV pundit. McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Johnstone before moving to English side Sunderland i ...

, Michael Stewart and Alex Rae. All of these pundits also contributed to co-commentary duty alongside

Derek Rae Derek Rae (born 1967) is a Scottish association football commentator and presenter who currently works for ESPN and ABC in the United States for the English-language coverages of Bundesliga, DFB Pokal, and La Liga and Deutsche Fußball Liga for ...

, Rory Hamilton, or

Rob MacLean Robin "Rob" Maclean (born 1958 in Invergordon) is a Scottish television presenter, football commentator and sports writer. He currently works for BBC Scotland and BT Sport. Maclean began his career with the Highland News Group in Inverness before ...

who were the lead commentators. There was always a 3-man commentary line up on the Scottish coverage with the most prominent co-commentary pairing being Craigan and Sutton. Emma Dodds and Connie McLaughlin were the match reporters on the coverage. From the 2016/17 season, BT Sport had aired a 30-minute preview show "Scottish Football Extra" before every live match. From the 2020–21 season, all 48 live SPFL Premiership matches will be on

Scottish League Cup

From the start of the 2016–17 season, BT Sport had been the home of exclusive live coverage of the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

, showing two or three live matches per round, from July through to the final in November. The same personnel used on the SPFL coverage was used on Scottish League Cup coverage. From 2020,

Premier Sports Viaplay Sports and Premier Sports are a group of pay television sports channels owned by Viaplay Group. Viaplay Sports holds exclusive live UK and Republic of Ireland TV rights to La Liga, Scottish League Cup, Elite Ice Hockey League, NHL and ...

, will take over the rights for the Scottish League Cup showing 12 to 16 games per season.

Bundesliga

BT Sport had full exclusive rights to the

and 2. Bundesliga. Lead commentary on Bundesliga action comes from Ben Andrews,

Steve Bower Stephen Robert Bower is an English football commentator, one of the main voices for BBC TV's Match of the Day, culminating in being part of the commentary teams for the 2010, 2014, and 2018 FIFA World Cups. Bower commentated on New Zealand's ...

, James Fielden, Seb Hutchinson,

, Dan Mason, Jonathan Pearce, John Roder, Dan Roebuck, Mark Scott, Joe Speight, Adam Summerton, Paul Walker, Oliver Wilson and Steven Wyeth. The co-commentators include

Jim Beglin James Martin Beglin (born 29 July 1963) is an Irish former professional footballer and current co-commentator for RTÉ, CBS Sports, BT Sport, and Premier League Productions. Playing career Shamrock Rovers Beglin played schoolboy football ...

, Chris Perry,

and

. Occasionally, Premier League pundit and ex Bayern Munich player,

also contributes to co-commentary. Ben Andrews,

Tim Caple Tim Caple is a British television sports commentator. He is best known for his football and boxing commentary although has commentated on many different sports. He has broadcast for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky Sports, Eurosport, ESPN, ...

, James Fielden, Mark Scott and Oliver Wilson are the lead commentators on 2. Bundesliga coverage. BT Sport lost rights to the Bundesliga from the 2021-22 season onwards for the next 4 years to

DFB Pokal

BT Sport previously broadcast

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

. From the start of the 2018–19 season, coverage moved to

Eleven Sports Eleven Sports is a multinational sports and entertainment media group. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, it is owned by Andrea Radrizzani's sports and media investment platform Aser Ventures. Eleven Sports' business model initially centred a ...

for a season only,.

CONMEBOL Libertadores

Previously, BT Sport showed both

2018 Copa Libertadores Finals The 2018 Copa Libertadores Finals was the two-legged final to decide the winners of the 2018 Copa Libertadores, the 59th edition of the Copa Libertadores, South America's premier international club football tournament organised by CONMEBOL. T ...

between the Argentine Superclásico rivals

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

and River Plate; in simulcast with

FreeSports Viaplay Xtra is a British free-to-air sports television channel operated and owned by Viaplay Group. History Viaplay Xtra launched as FreeSports on 31 August 2017, with the aim to provide free-to-air sports coverage and become a top three ded ...

. A year later, the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

final coverage moved to

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

Süper Lig

Towards the end of the 2019–20 season, BT Sport began showing 3 games a week from the Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

Cricket

Caribbean Premier League

BT have broadcast all 34 matches from the

Caribbean Premier League The Caribbean Premier League (abbreviated to CPL or CPLT20) is an annual Twenty20 cricket tournament held in the Caribbean. It was founded by Cricket West Indies in 2013 to replace the Caribbean Twenty20 as the premier Twenty20 competition in t ...

most recently in

took over the rights from the

edition onwards.

Indian Premier League

In 2019, BT Sport also won rights off Sky Sports to broadcast every match of the

2019 Indian Premier League The 2019 season of the Indian Premier League, also known as IPL 12, was the twelfth season of the IPL, a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007. At one point other countries ...

, however from the

2020 Indian Premier League The 2020 Indian Premier League, also known as IPL 13 and branded as Dream11 Indian Premier League 2020, was the thirteenth season of the IPL, a professional Twenty20 cricket (T20) league established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (B ...

the rights switched back to Sky Sports.

Tennis

In January 2013, BT Sport signed a deal with the WTA to show 21 live tournaments from the women's tennis tour. The coverage consisted of up to 800 live hours of coverage every year until 2016, each season ending with the

WTA Finals The WTA Finals (formerly known as the WTA Tour Championships or WTA Championships) is a tournament of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) played annually at the end of the season. The event is uniquely reserved for players at the top of the WTA ...

. From January 2017, BT Sport had the rights to show 52 WTA tournaments every year until 2019. Coverage on most competitions took feeds from the WTA international TV feed, but with larger events from the Premier Mandatory and Premier 5 category matches,

Sam Smith Samuel Frederick Smith (born 19 May 1992) is an English singer and songwriter. After rising to prominence in October 2012 by featuring on Disclosure's breakthrough single "Latch", which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart, they ...

or occasionally

Annabel Croft Annabel Nicola Croft (born 12 July 1966) is a former professional British female tennis player and current radio and television presenter. As a tennis player she won the WTA Tour event Virginia Slims of San Diego and represented Great Britain i ...

presented coverage alongside

Martina Navratilova Martina Navratilova ( cs, Martina Navrátilová ; ; born October 18, 1956) is a Czech–American, former professional tennis player. Widely considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Navratilova won 18 major singles titles, 31 maj ...

. Lead commentary was provided by Chris Bradnam, David Law and David Mercer alongside co-commentators,

Nigel Sears Nigel Sears (born 4 April 1957) is a British tennis coach, best known for coaching former top five players Amanda Coetzer, Daniela Hantuchová and Ana Ivanovic during his long career. Playing career Sears reached a career high singles ranking of ...

Anne Keothavong Anne Viensouk Keothavong (born 16 September 1983) is a retired British tennis player. During her career, she won a total of 28 titles on the ITF Women's Circuit, and reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 48 (achieved on 23 Februar ...

and

Jo Durie Joanna Mary Durie (born 27 July 1960) is a former world No. 5 tennis player from the United Kingdom. During her career, she also reached No. 9 in doubles, and won two Grand Slam titles, both in the mixed doubles with Jeremy Bates. Born in Bris ...

. The last competition BT Sport broadcast was the 2019 WTA Finals in which

Clare Balding Clare Victoria Balding (born 29 January 1971) is an English broadcaster, journalist, and author. She currently presents for BBC Sport, Channel 4, BT Sport, is the current president of the Rugby Football League (RFL) and formerly presented the ...

presented coverage alongside

and

. With

and

reporting from Shenzhen. Lead commentary came from David Law and David Mercer alongside Keothavong and Durie. For the

2020 WTA Tour The 2020 WTA Tour was the elite professional tennis circuit organised by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for the 2020 tennis season. The 2020 WTA Tour calendar originally comprised the Grand Slam tournaments supervised by the International ...

onwards,

are now the exclusive UK broadcaster, showing 49 tournaments a year.

Darts

BDO Darts coverage

It was announced in December 2014 that BT Sport would share the rights to the 2015 BDO World Darts Championship alongside

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

. Coverage would be presented by

Ray Stubbs Raymond J. Stubbs (born 24 May 1956) is an English broadcaster and former footballer. He worked as a presenter for the BBC, ESPN and BT Sport, and now works for Talksport radio. His most recent role is presenting the coverage of the World Seni ...

for the first two years of their coverage. In August 2016 they signed a new 2-year deal to share rights this time with

. Matt Smith took over as presenter with Chris Mason as studio pundit and Reshmin Chowdhury as roving reporter. Commentators on BT Sport Darts coverage were John Rawling, Jim Proudfoot, Vassos Alexander, Paul Nicholson, Deta Hedman and Chris Mason, these are shared with Channel 4's coverage, as the commentary is produced independently. BT Sport did not renew their contract for the 2019 tournament and the rights are now held by

QUEST A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. The word serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of ever ...

and

Basketball

NBA

BT Sport previously held exclusive rights to the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

, since 2009–10 season. Live coverage of the games began on

, from 6 October 2009 when the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

took on the pre-season game against

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

as part of

NBA Europe Live Tour The NBA Global Games are a series of games featuring NBA teams that are played outside the United States and Canada. Its purpose is to bring teams from the National Basketball Association (NBA) to play games against either another NBA team or a for ...

. Coverage continued on 8 October 2009 for Utah Jazz against Euroleague Basketball's

Real Madrid Baloncesto Real Madrid Baloncesto (English: Real Madrid Basketball) is a Spanish professional basketball team that was founded in 1931, as a division of the Real Madrid CF multi sports club. They play domestically in the Liga ACB, and internationally i ...

. The NBA season officially started on 27 October 2009. ESPN UK was unable to secure the rights to the 2012-13 NBA season until 5 December 2012 when a deal was made between NBA and ESPN to show 3 games a week, NBA All Star Game, First and Second Round NBA Play-off coverage, Western Conference Finals, and NBA Finals for this season (2012–13). Coverage began the following day. The channel continues to show this after the acquisition of ESPN by BT Sport (becomes BT Sport ESPN) until 2017–18 season. From 2018–19 season, coverage moved to

WNBA

Same as the men's league games, the Women's NBA games also moved to

from 2018–19 season.

Magazine shows

* ''Rugby Tonight'' - Sundays at 17:15 pm sees

and

present a debate about rugby union. Their guests include current and former players and referees reviewing and previewing the Aviva Premiership and France's Top 14. * ''UFC: Beyond The Octagon'' - Presented by Adam Catterall alongside Gareth A Davies and

* ''Boxing Tonight'' - Presented by Paul Dempsey * ''

'' - Saturdays at 3:00 pm, keeps up with the latest scores across the UK presented by Darrell Currie and

who are joined by various pundits. * ''UEFA Champions League Magazine'' - Fridays at 7:00 pm. * ''

ESPN FC ESPN FC (formerly ESPN SoccerNet) is a website and a U.S. television studio program covering soccer that is broadcast daily over the streaming service ESPN+. ESPN FC's origin was a website owned by ESPN Inc. Originally established in 1995 as Soc ...

'' - Sunday-Saturday at 11:30 pm sees Dan Thomas present a football debate show alongside a list of pundits and writers including

Craig Burley Craig William Burley (born 24 September 1971) is a Scottish former professional footballer and sports television pundit and co-commentator for ESPN. As a player he was a midfielder from 1989 until 2004, notably playing in the Premier League for ...

Steve Nicol ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

, and

Documentaries

BT Sport produces a series of

feature-length A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

sports documentary films under the title ''

BT Sport Films ''BT Sport Films'' are a series of Feature length, feature-length sports documentary films airing on the British subscription sports channels BT Sport. While the majority of films are about football, other sports covered include rugby, cricket, box ...

''. Among the films shown on the channel are ''

The Beautiful Game The Beautiful Game ( pt, o jogo bonito) is a nickname for association football. It was popularised by the Brazilian footballer Pelé, although the exact origin of the phrase is disputed. Stuart Hall, an English football commentator, used it as ...

'', '' I Believe in Miracles'' and '' Don't Take Me Home''. Documentaries that have been critically well-received include ''Rocky & Wrighty: From Brockley To The Big Time'', about childhood friends

David Rocastle David Carlyle Rocastle (2 May 1967 – 31 March 2001) was an English professional footballer who played as a midfielder in the roles of a playmaker and a winger. He spent the majority of his career at Arsenal where he was nicknamed "Rocky". Ro ...

and

Ian Wright Ian Edward Wright (born 3 November 1963) is an English television and radio personality and former professional footballer. He works as a pundit for BBC Sport and ITV Sport. Wright enjoyed success with London clubs Crystal Palace and Arsenal ...

, ''Shoulder To Shoulder'', on the

Ireland national rugby union team The Ireland national rugby union team is the men's representative national team for the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland competes in the annual Six Nations Champi ...

during

The Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

, and ''Brothers in Football'', which tells the story of

Corinthian Football Club Corinthian Football Club was an English amateur football club based in London between 1882 and 1939. Above all, the club is credited with having popularised football around the world, having promoted sportsmanship and fair play, and having ch ...

. These are shown alongside documentaries from ESPN, including ''

30 for 30 ''30 for 30'' is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This includes three "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series un ...

'', ''

Nine for IX ''Nine for IX'' is the title for a series of documentary films which aired on ESPN. The documentaries were produced by ESPN Films in conjunction with espnW, and were intended to have the same creative, story-driven aspect as ESPN Films' other ser ...

'', '' SEC Storied'' and ''Backstory'', as well as official MotoGP films.

Classic sport

BT Sport's weekday daytime schedules often include sporting action from yesteryear. Football features heavily and includes league matches from the 1970s and 1980s from both the

ITV Sport ITV Sport is a sport producer for ITV. It was formed following the merger between Granada Sport and Central Sport.The Big Match ''The Big Match'' was a British football television programme, screened on ITV between 1968 and 1992. ''The Big Match'' originally launched on London Weekend Television (LWT) – the ITV regional station that served London and the Home Counties ...

'', and the BBC's ''

'' archives. Also featured are

matches from the 1970s to the present day and

matches. Other sporting action includes boxing matches from the

and

ITV Sport ITV Sport is a sport producer for ITV. It was formed following the merger between Granada Sport and Central Sport.MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...

races and Australian cricket.

References

External links

* {{Warner Bros. Discovery Joint ventures Sports television in the United Kingdom Sports television channels in the United Kingdom Television channels and stations established in 2013 Warner Bros. Discovery