BT loses TV rights for 'ultimate fighting' and NBA basketball

BT is understood to have lost the rights to broadcast NBA basketball and UFC ultimate fighting after walking away from a bidding contest. "We won't bid any more than the rights are worth to us," a spokesperson for the telecoms giant told the BBC. The move comes weeks after BT lost the rights to Italian Serie A football. BT's sports channels will continue to show NBA Basketball until the end of October and UFC until 3 December. Mr Patterson led BT for 14 years and under his direction the firm established itself as a major sports broadcaster, with the rights to screen a significant number of Premier League games. Last month, Neil Wilson, chief market analyst for Markets.com, said BT's "Expensive move into football rights was a mistake", because it had failed to lead to a rise in new subscribers for the firm's TV offering.

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