BT is taking on the might of Sky Sports head on by offering its broadband customers free access to English Premier League and European football games via its BT Sport channels.
The deal doesn’t necessarily require you to have a BT Vision or YouView box, either. Similarly to Sky Go, BT Sport can be watched on a laptop, smartphone or tablet. By subscribing to BT broadband you’ll get yourself access to BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN, which are all full of high flying footy matches.
Of course, BT shares the rights to English Premier League games with Sky and some others. It currently has the rights to show 38 Premier League games live each season, which includes 18 games that are classed as ‘top picks’ – we’re assuming that means the big teams. BT also shows games from the big European leagues including Serie A in Italy, the Bundesliga in Germany and the Europa League.
If football’s not your thing then fortunately BT’s sport channels also offer up MotoGP, women’s tennis and football, and Aviva Premiership rugby.
The deal will bring matches in standard definition, with the option to pay an extra £3 per month for high definition goodness, which let’s face it; you’re going to want.
It all sounds pretty good, especially when you factor in David James being a presenter. However, that’s carefully balanced out by the recent additions of Rio Ferdinand and Michael Owen.