Sky & BT in Channel-Sharing Pact

Sky and BT have entered into a deal that will see them sharing their most popular channels.

Sky will receive the BT Sport channels, enabling it to offer its customers access to every single match of the Premier League, the UEFA Champions League and Europa League shown on Sky and BT channels through one simple Sky contract. This will be the first time Sky is able to provide BT Sport to its customers directly as part of a Sky bundle or on a stand-alone basis and across all Sky platforms, including Sky Go. BT Sport will also be available as an app on NOW TV boxes.

Sky will then make its NOW TV streaming service available on the BT TV set-top box. As retail agent, BT will sell NOW TV on Sky’s behalf, offering BT TV customers access to NOW TV’s most popular content, including Sky Atlantic, Sky One, Sky Living, Sky Sports and Sky Cinema.

It is expected that these new services will be available to customers from early 2019.

Jeremy Darroch, Group CEO of Sky, said, “This is great news for Sky customers who will be able to access all matches on Sky and BT channels from the Premier League, UEFA Champions League and Europa League directly with a single Sky TV subscription and with the great customer service that we provide. U.K. consumers will have even more ways to watch great Sky entertainment content with our leading portfolio of channels—Sky Atlantic, Sky One and Sky Living—available on all major pay-TV platforms for the first time. This is all part of our stated strategy to enhance our customer offering, to broaden our appeal and to open up new revenue streams for our business.”