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BT Sports 1 and 2 start at 6pm tonight with no charge for anyone, for one day only. The new channels are part of BT’s plan to wreck Sky’s live sport monopoly and are available to YouView, Sky and BT Vision users — and free for a limited period to BT Broadband subscribers.
Apps have appeared too, on the iOS App Store and Android’s Google Play, so you can access BT Sport even if you don’t have a compatible box. Both apps are universal, for phones and tablets, and you can watch on the BT website too. The apps offer on-demand catch-up of full shows, live stats and commentary for Premier League games, and special streamed events that aren’t televised.
HD versions of both channels are available to BT Infinity subscribers for £3 extra on your monthly bill. Standard def is free to BT broadband customers. If you’re on Sky and don’t want BT broadband, you can subscribe to BT Sports for £12 per month, plus £15 to start with. I can’t imagine too many people plumping for that option.
Tonight on BT Sports 1, there’s an hour of welcoming everyone along to the new channels, followed by live football action from the Audi Cup in Munich, with Manchester City, AC Milan, Bayern Munich and Sao Paulo knocking a ball about in a friendly tournament ahead of the start of the season.
Over on Sports 2 at 7pm, there’s high-speed egg-chasing with live sevens rugby from the JP Morgan Rugby 7s, featuring Gloucester, Bath, Exeter and Worcester.
BT has signed up more than half a million subscribers so far. Its big draw is Premier League fixtures you can’t see anywhere else, but there are only 38 of them, one every weekend. The telecom company promises its coverage will be “more relaxed” than Sky, with ex-BBC presenters Jake Humphrys and Claire Balding, and pundits including Rio Ferdinand, David James and Steve McManaman.
Live Premier League coverage kicks off with Liverpool v Stoke on Saturday 17 August at 12.45pm, with one live match at that time every weekend. High-profile local grudge matches on offer include Spurs v Chelsea on 28 September and Everton v Liverpool on 23 November. You can see the full TV fixture list here, alongside Sky’s.
Are you looking forward to a new sporting venue on your telly? Does it stand a better chance than Setanta, ITV Digital or any of the others that’ve come and gone since Sky hit the UK? Deliver your informed punditry in the comments, or on our sporting Facebook page.
