BT’s Sky challenge continues with sports news deal

BT has agreed a content deal with sports news agency sntv.

The UK telco has aggressively moved into the sports rights market, taking on BSkyB by acquiring local Premiership and Champions League rights.

The sntv content will be integrated with that of BT and will include news coverage of the build-up to the upcoming soccer World Cup, the current Ashes cricket series and the rugby union autumn internationals.

The deal puts BT even more squarely in competition with BSkyB, which has its own dedicated Sky Sports News channel.

“As a new dedicated sports network we need breadth of coverage and sntv gives us this,” says Steve Norris, head of Sports Rights, BT Sport. “sntv have expertise and a flexible approach to covering sports news.”

“BT Sport is a really exciting arrival for sports fans with an ambitious team looking to challenge the status quo,” added Martin Kay, MD of sntv.