UK telecommunications company BT could be forced to engage in a costly war with pay-television broadcaster BSkyB if it is to secure a long-term foothold in the UK’s sports broadcasting sector, according to financial services company Exane BNP Paribas.
BT has acquired live domestic rights for a package of English Premier League games from 2013-14 to 2015-16 and last week the telco acquired the domestic rights for matches from the English Premiership top-tier rugby union competition plus rights for a summer rugby sevens tournament from 2013-14 to 2016-17.
However, Exane fears that the purchase of such rights “has raised considerable doubts about capital allocation and the potential return on that capital.”
The Financial Times newspaper said that Sky, which retained the primary live domestic rights for the Premier League from 2013-14 to 2015-16, had already secured enough sports content to defend and reinforce its market-leading position for the coming years.
“BT’s (and indeed the industry’s) record of innovation outside its core business is littered with disappointments,” Exane said. “BT is faced with either a capital intensive marathon with Sky, starting from many miles behind, or settling for being a relatively low margin access provider.”
The Daily Mail newspaper said last week that BT was in talks with pay-television broadcaster ESPN about acquiring more rights from the latter’s dwindling portfolio of UK rights.