Mar 6, 2017
BT pays £1.2bn to retain European football rights
BT has stumped up £1.2bn to retain the rights to European football that will ease fears the company's push into pay-TV was in danger of being derailed. The auction of rights to the Champions League and Europa League was launched at a tricky time for BT, which is still in negotiations with Ofcom regarding an agreement over the future of its Openreach division and nursing a share price and balance sheet weakened by the accounting scandal at BT Italia. That led to fears inside the company that Sky, emboldened by the £18bn takeover offer from 21st Century Fox, would strike to win back the rights to European football games that it unexpectedly lost in 2013. The latest auction of European football rights contained 35 per cent more slots including 6pm and 8pm scheduled games, which analysts said would be good for pubs and clubs. Sam McHugh, an analyst with Exane BNP Paribas, said that while BT paid more than the expected £1.1bn cost for the rights, the auction did remove a key hurdle for the recovery of its share price, given the risk if it had lost its European football rights.
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