UPDATE ISP BT Broadband Customers Might No Longer Get FREE BTSport TV

Customers of BT’s broadband bundles, most of which have for the past two years been able to benefit from free BTSport TV content, may be displeased to learn that the free ride could soon be coming to an end and some related content will instead cost an additional fee of £5 (still a lot less than non-BT customers pay).

Readers may recall that both BT and Sky signed a major new Premier League TV football rights deal for the 2016/17 to 2018/19 seasons in February 2015 (here), which saw Sky spend around £1.392bn per year and BT splash out £320m per season (currently £246m). Sky already plans another TV price rise.

Meanwhile the alleged price increase for BT customers, which has been reported in today’s Daily Mail (i.e. take with a pinch of salt until we get it confirmed), is apparently set to be announced next week and would almost certainly be a reflection of the recent rights deal (higher content costs).

The report itself gives the impression that non-BT customers can expect to pay an extra £5 more than they do today (e.g. the direct cost of BTSport on Sky TV is currently from £13.50 per month), while existing BT users will simply pay just £5 per month (total) as the service is currently free. It’s not presently known if this applies to all BTSport content or just the primary European + Premier League Football and Rugby coverage.

Naturally we asked BT about this and they didn’t deny it, but nor did they confirm.

A BT Spokeswoman told ISPreview.co.uk:

“We can’t comment on rumour on speculation. We will be revealing our plans in due course.”

On the upside if existing customers are asking to pay only £5 per month then it’s still a pretty good deal, plus BTSport have hinted that they intend to roll-out 4K video streams for some or all of their Champions League matches. We suspect related customers may need an even faster broadband connection for that one (25-30Mbps is usually a fair bet for 4K streams).

UPDATE 6th June 2015

ISPreview.co.uk understands that the £5 fee may only apply to European football content, such as the Champions League matches. Assuming BT does separate related content then this would mean that the other BTSport rights, such as UK Premier League football, would remain free to existing broadband customers.