BT appoints production partner for sports coverage

BT has appointed production company Sunset+Vine to produce the telecommunications company’s coverage of the English Premier League, the top division of football in the country, and English club rugby union’s top-tier Premiership.

According to the Guardian newspaper, the contract is worth between £100 million (€125 million/$161 million) and £132 million over three years, from 2013-14 to 2015-16.

The agreement covers BT’s three-year rights deal for live domestic rights to the Premier League, and the first three years of the company’s four-year rights deal for the Premiership.

The report added that UK commercial broadcaster ITV, which had considered bidding for the production rights, pulled out of the process at an earlier stage.

“Live football and rugby coverage have been a major part of our recent output and we can now put our creative talents into delivering top-class and innovative coverage for BT Sport’s major rights acquisitions,” Sunset+Vine chairman Jeff Foulser said.

Simon Green, the head of BT Sport, added: “We have chosen Sunset+Vine as our lead preferred partner on the basis of its creative approach and the quality of the team they have lined up to work on the programming.”