BT vs BSkyB

The ongoing battle between BT and BskyB for the football broadcasting rights in England is only going to benefit the clubs over there.

BskyB is a well known name in England as they have been ruling the sports market over there since a long time. But, BT is now ready to challenge them. Recently, they have bought the rights of broadcasting the matches of the European competitions in England from 2015 to 2018 by paying a huge amount of 1.44 billion US Dollars. Currently, ITV and BskyB has the rights of broadcasting the European matches and the amount that they pay for that is not even the half of the above mentioned amount.

It’s a big setback for BskyB; that’s for sure. They would have loved to continue as the broadcaster of the European games even after 2015, but, BT beat them with sheer money.

Because of this new BT deal, the English clubs which make it to the Champions League are going to be benefitted a lot. They will get about 10 million Pounds more than what they are getting right now. The teams qualifying for the Europa League will also have the benefits, but, not as much as the Champions League sides.

The sports content has clearly become expensive in the last couple of years and it has been more so in football which is the most popular sport on the planet. So, every sports network wants to have football broadcasting rights and they are ready to pay ridiculous amounts of money for that.

Ed Woodward who is the executive vice-chairman of the Manchester United FC also had the same thing to say when he was asked about this new BT deal.

Woodward said, “The football content is becoming more and more expensive. It’s been the case with every sport, but, in football, it’s more so as this game is immensely popular all around the world.”