Discovery, the US television giant, have entered into exclusive talks about the takeover of BT Sport in a move that is a potential hammer blow to DAZN’s hopes of expanding in the UK.
DAZN had been bidding to take over the channels, which would have seen them pick up rights to a number of sports, notably Premier League and Champions League football, as well as rugby union and many overseas rights deals, including cricket.
But BT Group, the telecoms giant that owns the channels, announced on Thursday morning that it was in exclusive talks with Discovery about a new 50/50 joint venture, bringing BT Sport together with Eurosport, the channel it already owns.
BT Sport has four channels in the UK, while Eurosport, whose rights include the Olympics and tennis, has two. It has broadcast streams of each Olympic sport on Discovery+ during the Games.
It leaves boxing as DAZN’s only offering in the UK, for which it charges £7.99 per month. It is understood that the next round of Premier League rights that DAZN could bid for will not start until 2025.
BT issued a statement about its plans.
It read: “BT Group today announced that it has entered exclusive discussions with Discovery, Inc. on a deal to create a new sport and entertainment offering for customers in the UK.
“The new business would be a 50/50 joint venture, bringing together BT Sport with Eurosport UK. The new combined business would remain committed to retaining BT Sport’s existing major sports broadcast rights while BT Sport customers would get access to Discovery’s sport and entertainment content, including the discovery+ app.
“BT Group are aiming to conclude the exclusive discussions with Discovery, Inc. in early Q1 for the new company to be operational later this year, subject to completion of the deal and approval by the relevant competition authorities.
“Marc Allera, CEO BT Consumer, said: ‘The proposed joint venture with Discovery, Inc. would create an exciting new sports broadcasting entity for the UK and would act as a perfect home for our BT Sport business.
“With a shared ambition for growth, as well as the combination of our world class sports assets along with Discovery’s premium sports and entertainment content, our customers will benefit from even more content in more places’.”
DAZN said the deal had become "uneconomical", but that they were still committed to growing in the UK, hinting at new developments in the near future.
Kevin Mayer, the DAZN chairman, said: “We remain fully committed to growing our business and investing in the UK, as you will see in the near future.
“On this occasion, however, the deal for BT Sport became uneconomical for DAZN. However, we respect that BT chose a different strategic path and wish BT, BT Sport and Discovery all the best for the future.”
DAZN have an exclusive long-term deal with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom group to supply boxing, while BT Sport, which has studios in the Olympic Park in East London, have a similar deal with Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions.
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.
