By Andrew Warshaw
August 22 – A sample of live Premier League games could be shown on terrestrial television under a new deal between telecommunications giant BT and the ITV channel, according to reports.
The groundbreaking arrangement, which would see top-flight games shown to a national free-to-air audience for the first time, is in the discussion stage according to the Daily Telegraph.
Although BSkyB still dominates the market, BT made a surprise entry into televised football earlier this year when it won the right to stage 38 matches a season for three years from 2013 worth an estimated £738 million ($1.2 billion/€935 million).
A deal with ITV, said the Telegraph, would allow BT to showcase to a wider audience a sample of the matches it plans to offer on its own pay-television service, BT Vision, which will include a new, dedicated football channel.
Marc Watson, BT Vision’s chief executive, said earlier this year that it wanted to use the live television rights as a “calling card” with which to sell other products.
“This is about creating the opportunity to build more customer relationships,” he said days after the deal was clinched in June.
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