A new name for BT Sport is another step towards an exciting future

This week we’ve announced that we're making another important move in our plans with Warner Bros. Discovery to bring together the best of BT Sport and Eurosport under one roof: TNT Sports is the new name that will replace BT Sport, from July 2023.

It marks the next logical step for BT Sport as well as the broader transformation of BT's Consumer business. Once launched, it'll become a hugely exciting new premium sports offering for customers. And, as chair of our Joint Venture with Warner Bros. Discovery, I'm pleased with the progress we’re making.

I'm also really proud of our teams who have been working at pace to create a more efficient platform that'll see this new sports brand in the UK and Ireland brought to life for the first time before the start of 2023/24 football season. In just a few months, they have done an amazing job under the leadership of Andrew Georgiou (board member of the Joint Venture and President and Managing Director, Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe), responding to some really significant changes.

We've maintained what is a premium viewing experience for millions of customers, despite a period of transition after we completed the transaction to combine the assets of BT Sport and Eurosport UK last September. And we've given customers more, just like we promised, with BT Sport customers able to activate a discovery+ Entertainment & Sport subscription at no extra cost earlier this month.
 

What can our viewers expect?

Shortly before the 2023/24 football season, discovery+ will become the streaming home for sports fans who can enjoy a subscription that includes TNT Sports, Eurosport and entertainment in one destination. BT Sport subscribers already enjoy complimentary access to discovery+ which includes Eurosport’s streaming offer and wide range of entertainment programming.

Together, this provides one of the most extensive line-ups of live sports coverage for fans in the UK and Ireland - including the Olympic Games, the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, Premiership Rugby, MotoGP, UFC, Boxing, WWE, tennis Grand Slams, cycling Grand Tours and the winter sports season.

The TNT Sports name already has a strong association with premium live sport in other territories and under Warner Bros. Discovery’s family of brands. This includes being home to top-level domestic and European football in a number of countries in Latin America, while live sport has been a longtime staple on the TNT network in the U.S, including the NBA, NHL and NCAA.

Our intention with this Joint Venture was always to launch a new brand for amazing live sport and bring it together with an entertainment offering from Warner Bros. Discovery that will ultimately be great for our customers. And it’s thanks to the great content like this that we’re seeing record numbers of people watching, with pretty much all viewing figures up year on year.
 

Building for the future

From BT Group’s side, building the networks that can sustain that growth is one of the most important things that we can do. Only last Wednesday we saw a record peak for broadband traffic on our network – 29.11Tbps – driven by the streaming of two Champions League games together with Arsenal versus Man City in the Premier League and a new Call of Duty release. That’s more than 10 per cent higher than the previous peak we saw just a few months ago.

The network demand is massive. And that's why it's so important for us to keep investing in our fixed and mobile networks. We’re rolling out our full fibre network at record pace, and we’re committed to delivering 5G coverage on our EE mobile network anywhere in the UK by 2028.

In the meantime, we will continue to work on the integration of our tech platforms with Warner Bros. Discovery, ensuring a seamless experience for customers while getting ready to go big for the start of the new football season.

We are really proud of the progress we've made together, working at pace to create a more efficient platform. There are so many opportunities that this next chapter will bring for both our teams and – most importantly – our viewers on TNT Sports.

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