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BT Sport is offering to take Sky inside, as their sporting scrap spills into the pubs of Britain. But as the battle heats up, BT promises its sporting coverage will be “more relaxed” and “less formal” than Sky’s frenetic shows.
Speaking to a TV industry shindig, BT boss Marc Watson, revealed that BT plans to charge pubs a whopping 20 per cent less than Sky to show Premier League matches on Saturday lunchtime, the Radio Times reports.
“I’d love to think that because of BT Sport, every pub in the land is going to be full every lunchtime,” he said.
BT Sport will also involve less frenetic on-screen graphics and high-tech analysis — Mitchell and Webb will no doubt be pleased.
BT has the rights to show 38 of the 154 televised Premier League fixtures, including the first pick of important games. BT Sport channels — with action including international football and other sports — are free to BT broadband customers.
To counter that, Sky is offering a mirror image deal: free broadband to Sky Sports subscribers.
Sky is still more expensive — with prices set to increase by up to 10 per cent in September — but Murdoch’s mob also have much more sporting action to choose from. To tempt you in, Sky will broadcast its opening day programmes on free channels so everyone can get a taste of Sky coverage.
Is it about time someone challenged the Sky stranglehold on sports, movies and TV? And can BT tempt you back to the pub when Saturday comes? Give me your punditry in the comments, or you can switch for free to our Facebook wall.
