BT Sport offers hotels over 220 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa exclusively live
BT Sport has unveiled a great value deal for hotels and commercial premises to show up to 223 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches exclusively live on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights to entertain existing guests and entice new customers into their premises midweek.
BT Sport Europe launched as the new home of top European football
A 60 bed hotel pays £193 a month for BT Sport Total Pack
Gary Lineker, Jake Humphrey and Rio Ferdinand to present
BT Sport has unveiled a great value deal for hotels and commercial premises to show up to 223 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches exclusively live on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights to entertain existing guests and entice new customers into their premises midweek.
Research shows that for commercial premises showing sport, matches involving Premier League football clubs are amongst the most important for increasing trade1. BT Sport will more than double the number of these games it shows next season, increasing from around 55 to 1132.
The company has announced the launch of a new BT Sport Total pack which will include a channel line-up of BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2, BT Sport ESPN and BT Sport Europe, the new home of top European football from the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League from August 1.
A 60 bed hotel will pay £193 a month for the new BT Sport Total Pack, existing Independent hotel customers will also benefit from a loyalty discount of up to 15 per cent to bring the price down further3.For those customers who want to show BT Sport in guest rooms, the good news is that BT Sport is freezing the room price at £3 per room per month in spite of adding a fourth channel – BT Sport Europe – to the line-up.
In further welcome news, BT Sport will also cut the price for customers who only want to show exclusively live Barclays Premier League football, the SPFL and Aviva Premiership Rugby on BT Sport 1. Customers will see a price reduction of seven per cent4 to reflect the change in content.
Bruce Cuthbert, director commercial customers at BT Sport, said: “Next season will mark a big change for hotel customers who want to maximise F&B spend from guests staying midweek by showing the really big UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League clashes, especially as none of those games will be on ITV or Sky Sports.”
“We will now offer more than double the number of games involving Premier League clubs. Up to 223 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches means 49 more mid-week match nights5 on BT Sport for commercial premises. At an average cost of £166 per match night for our customers this represents fantastic value for money and a great way to drive incremental guest spend. At the same time Sky Sports’ standard prices haven’t changed as they continue to charge customers the same price for a package that has lost 129 UEFA Champions League games7.”
“We have been successful in broadening the numbers of premises that show premium sports. With the addition of the UEFA Champions League we look to grow the hotel sector by showing that the top football need not come at a top price.”
Gary Lineker, Jake Humphrey and Rio Ferdinand will front the live UEFA Champions League coverage. They will join the BT Sport team which includes Paul Scholes, Michael Owen, Steve McManaman and Owen Hargreaves as well as new signings; Steven Gerrard, Harry Redknapp, Glenn Hoddle and Howard Webb.
From July 1, customers signing up to BT Sport Total will be eligible for an exclusive free service from Screach; Screach Lite. This offers a dynamic entertainment and communication platform that turns a bar’s existing TVs into a sales and marketing tool to help drive visitors and sales using BT Sport content and customisable venue promotion tools. In addition to the free subscription, the first 1,000 BT Sport Total customers signing up to the package will also receive free equipment and installation delivering a combined saving of £755 in the first year alone.
BT Sport is also launching an online resource called The Manager’s Office. This aims to help commercial premises to maximise profits from live sport and will be home to the latest live fixture information for BT Sport and all Free to Air channels, covering all sports. Each fixture and event will be supported with assets for social media, digital screens and posters. Landlords will also enjoy access to news and industry chat via the new @BTSportBars Twitter account, plus a whole host of giveaways for competitions.
BT Sport will also re-launch the BT Sport Bar Finder on btsport.com to help to direct customers to their nearest establishment showing BT Sport. The tool will now include photos of bars and additional information, including whether it has wi-fi.
Notes to editors
1 Based on research conducted by Evalueserve/Amethist May 2015. 85% of commercial premises with Sports TV consider Football rather than other sports a main reason for subscribing to Sports TV [300 pubs with Sports unweighted]. Moreover when a Premier League side is playing 99% of commercial premises rate the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup as best for trade [300 pubs with Sports TV unweighted].
2 Based on analysis of the average number of games per season across the Premier League, Champions League, Europa League and FA Cup featuring Premier League sides over the last 3 years versus the average number of games BT Sport has shown across the Premier League, Europa League and FA Cup featuring Premier League sides over the last 2 years.
3 Independent customers that have joined BT Sport by 30th June 2015 will be eligible for a loyalty discount off their subscription price from 1st September 2015 until 31st August 2016. Customers who joined BT Sport in our first year (prior to 30th June 2014) will receive 15% off and customers who joined us in our second year (from 1st July 2014 up until 30th June 2015) will receive 12% off. The offer end date for this offer is 7th August 2015.
4 Customers who take BT Sport 1 will receive a 7% reduction in price versus the price of the BT Sport Pack in market during the 14/15 season.
5 Based on the number of midweek Champions League and Europa League match days available throughout the season.
6 Based on the price an independent BT Sport hotel customer with a 60 bed hotel with a bar subscription would pay with a year 2 loyalty discount divided by the number of Champions League and Europa League midweek match days available throughout the season.
7 Based on the number of Champions League games per season Sky Sports have the rights to televise under their current rights deal which is due to expire
