General : ESPN, BT, Euro, Premier and Sky Sports news

[RichardCoulter]

There's now a promo for Sky Sports Mix in the Discovery Bar confirming that it starts on Wednesday.

I guess the launch of this channel sees the end of temporary free periods on the main Sky Sports channels.

[Gavin-D]

Sky sports mix goes live at 12:30 on Wednesday Nasser Hussain will lead families and kids through a cricketing masterclass at the Ageas Bowl

http://www.skysports.com/cricket/new...ix-launch-show

[Arthurgray50@blu]

That deal with EE by BT Sports, is probably the reason why we had THREE increases in subs, just to pay the 140 million quid.

Its a disgusting amount of money. I can see when the next set of talks about sports. I can honestly see BT outbidding everyone.

At the end of the day, each broadcaster should have an equal share of sports. I do know that FiFA and Eufa are not happy, as viewing figures are down.
bodies feel that everyone should see

[TMLeafs]

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

That deal with EE by BT Sports, is probably the reason why we had THREE increases in subs, just to pay the 140 million quid.

Its a disgusting amount of money. I can see when the next set of talks about sports. I can honestly see BT outbidding everyone.

At the end of the day, each broadcaster should have an equal share of sports. I do know that FiFA and Eufa are not happy, as viewing figures are down.
bodies feel that everyone should see

I don't think BT sport will out bid it will be interesting but it's got to reach a limit at some point there paying 10 million a game at the moment. BT might get more games as sky might feel they can drop a package. Also next bidding its for 190 games a extra 22 games which is another package so could see 3 games on a sunday from the 2019-20 season

its 120Million which when you look at how much BT spend on sports per year its a bargin. just on the two biggest contracts BT have to pay 619m per year.

BT Premier League £960m 3 Years = 320M Per Year
Champions League £897m 3 Years = 299M Per Year

Rumours are Sky Sports take up on Virgin Media is only around 20% though this was before the new relationship (been a few years now) that is pushing movies and sports to virgin customers on sky channels plus having access to their apps etc.
Virgin media 3.7m TV Subs = 740,000 take sky sports

I doubt even half of them would sub BT Sport at around 20 pounds per month but having it free makes you stay.
Sky Customers that don't have BT Broadband pay 21.99 for SD & 26.99 for HD. If you hate sport it looks bad but for me it's the only thing making me stay with virgin media currently otherwise i would move to sky for a faster box SKY Q as tivo is just crap and 4K.

Virgin are upset at the EE deal but this is a sign BT need more subs especially as UEFA are not happy with viewing figures of champions league. Most will do the 6 months free and cancel anyway.

[RichardCoulter]

Interesting that VM offered/agreed to pay their carriage fees upfront; cable companies usually pay them monthly just like us!

Maybe this was the deal breaker that brought us the channel at the last minute?

The carriage costs for BT Sport are currently £120m and VM is said to have approx 1.8M XL pack subscribers.

TMLeafs has been doing some interesting number crunching in another thread:

Originally Posted by TMLeafs

120M/1.8M/12 = £5.56 per XL sub per month

BT sport pay close to 1 Billion pounds per year for all their sport. That fixed money from virgin per year definitely helps them out otherwise all other ways of subbing BT sport will increase in cost.

To get it on sky without BT Broadband it's already £21.99 SD £26.99 HD when it started it was around 15 pounds.

If XL lost BT sport and lets say they start charging 20 pounds per month they would need at least 500,000 subs to get the same amount of money. With Sky Sports take up is low on virgin media, though it has been along time since we have seen any figures it's definitely the best option for BT.

So, the 'free' BT Sport channels actually costs us XL subscribers about £5.56 per month...

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

So, the 'free' BT Sport channels actually costs us XL subscribers about £5.56 per month...

Sadly, we all know by now that free=inclusive or you could just get BT Sport free without anything else! And in any other deal where a company says something is free but you have to buy something else first, just substitute "free" for "inclusive" to get the honest situation.

[telegramsam]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Sadly, we all know by now that free=inclusive or you could just get BT Sport free without anything else! And in any other deal where a company says something is free but you have to buy something else first, just substitute "free" for "inclusive" to get the honest situation.

To be fair Virgin have never said BT Sport was free just "included in your package at no extra cost". We're all paying for it (those on the xl package anyway).

[TMLeafs]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

So, the 'free' BT Sport channels actually costs us XL subscribers about £5.56 per month...

But virgin will clearly have every customer paying the bill

All TV Subs
120M/3.7M/12 =£2.71

All Customers
120M/5.2M/12 = £1.92

Only Triple-Play Customers (64.1%)
120M/3.33M/12 = £3

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by telegramsam

To be fair Virgin have never said BT Sport was free just "included in your package at no extra cost". We're all paying for it (those on the xl package anyway).

To most people that translates as free.

TBH I am getting rid OF VM and switching everything to Sky with a much better offer, however I will be gutted at losing BT sport. I certainly do NOT plan on forking out £26.99 a month for it on Sky.

VM definitely got a good deal for it what ever people seem to think the price rises are actually for.

Its a total joke that BT charge so much for it now.

[telegramsam]

Originally Posted by Stephen

To most people that translates as free.

TBH I am getting rid OF VM and switching everything to Sky with a much better offer, however I will be gutted at losing BT sport. I certainly do NOT plan on forking out £26.99 a month for it on Sky.
Yes I can see that many people see that as 'free'.
Thought about going back to sky myself but my other half wants to stay with virgin and like you would miss by sport but wouldn't pay the asking price by want.
VM definitely got a good deal for it what ever people seem to think the price rises are actually for.

Its a total joke that BT charge so much for it now.

[Mad Max]

Why quote Stephens post without a comment TS?

[TMLeafs]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Its a total joke that BT charge so much for it now.

Coz they don't want you too. they want you to completely move to BT or at least the broadband. It's why sky are doing the 10 pounds fibre for life it stops that as sky Internet plus BT sport will equal the same amount to move to BT broadband to get it free but that won't even get it on your sky box there's another fee for that last time I looked it was 6 pounds without HD

I don't know a single sky customer that has BT sport they always have a mates or nans login to stream online

[Arthurgray50@blu]

Stephen, if you have gone to Sky, from VM. BUT IF you keep the M pack, you can get BT Sport for £20.00 on Sky. and you get ALL the BT channels plus Showcase

We called Sky, as we were frustrated by the increased costs of VM. They gave us a deal, and we agreed it. And ITS CHEAPER than VM. for everything.

My wife kept the M pack and BB/TV on VM, as we don't have a problem on the phone. But l was fed up with the price increases. BT Sport is NOT free, we had THREE price increases.

Its a better deal - and VM couldn't beat it. And here is a good one. EPL IS BEING SHOWN LIVE ON bt sPORT on showcase

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Stephen

To most people that translates as free.

TBH I am getting rid OF VM and switching everything to Sky with a much better offer, however I will be gutted at losing BT sport. I certainly do NOT plan on forking out £26.99 a month for it on Sky.

VM definitely got a good deal for it what ever people seem to think the price rises are actually for.

Its a total joke that BT charge so much for it now.

Good grief £26.99 for BT Sport on Sky.

[telegramsam]

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

Stephen, if you have gone to Sky, from VM. BUT IF you keep the M pack, you can get BT Sport for £20.00 on Sky. and you get ALL the BT channels plus Showcase

We called Sky, as we were frustrated by the increased costs of VM. They gave us a deal, and we agreed it. And ITS CHEAPER than VM. for everything.

My wife kept the M pack and BB/TV on VM, as we don't have a problem on the phone. But l was fed up with the price increases. BT Sport is NOT free, we had THREE price increases.

Its a better deal - and VM couldn't beat it. And here is a good one. EPL IS BEING SHOWN LIVE ON bt sPORT on showcase

I find that hard to believe, live English Premier League matches being shown on the free channel.