Warner Bros. Discovery and British telecommunications giant BT Group have confirmed plans to form a 50-50 joint venture to create a new premium sports offering for the UK and Ireland. This will lead to the transfer of BT Sport’s operations to Warner Bros. Discovery, effectively combining the content offerings of BT Sport and Eurosport UK.
Discussions on the deal initially started in February and negotiations have been ongoing for some time.
JV’s premium sports rights portfolio includes UEFA Champions League and Europa League, Premier League matches, Premier Rugby, UFC, Olympic Games, Tennis Grand Slam, Australian Open and Roland Garros, Bicycle Grand Tour including the Giro Tour. Of Italy and the season of the Winter Sports World Cup.
BT will receive 93.93 million (US $ 113.6 million) from Warner Bros. Discovery and approximately 40.54 billion (US $ 659.3 million) of JV revenues, subject to certain conditions. BT will retain a 50% stake in the JV and Warner Bros. Discovery will have the option to claim BT’s stake in the venture, which will occur within the first four years at specified points. If the call option is not implemented, BT will have the opportunity to exit its stake in the JV through a sale or IPO.
Warner Bros. Discovery and BT will directly contribute, license or benefit from the JV of their respective sporting rights and distribution agreements for the UK and Ireland, the companies said. Upon completion of the transaction, BT Sport’s manufacturing and operations activities will be transferred and become a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including approval from relevant regulators, and is expected to close at the end of 2022.
As part of the transaction, BT and Warner Bros. Discovery will enter into distribution agreements with JV to become the official UK distributor for both sets of JV’s sports channels. The contract with BT will run beyond 2030 and will include a guarantee of at least მილი 500 million (US $ 610.6 million) in revenue for the first four years, after which the contract will be replaced by a fully variable agreement.
The JV will also sign a new agreement with Sky that will last beyond 2030 to ensure the distribution of the JV’s combined sports content. As part of existing subscriptions, customers who access BT Sport directly through BT and most BT TV users will receive the Discover + non-art entertainment streaming service, which is Eurosport’s direct and on demand service in the UK. and Ireland.
Both BT Sport and Eurosport UK will initially keep separate brands and product offerings until they merge under a single brand in the future.
Mark Allera, CEO of BT Consumer Affairs, said, “As the global broadcaster of sports and entertainment, Warner Bros. Discovery is the perfect partner to work with us to take BT Sport to the next level of growth. We are delighted to join forces with Eurosport UK to push BT Sport to the best of our ability to create a fantastic new sports offering with all the entertainment Discovery + has to offer BT customers. “
Andrew Georgiou, President and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, added, “The combination of our growing portfolio of premium entertainment content promises to deliver richer and deeper content to customers, not only more valuable than their subscriptions, but even sportsmen. Larger entertainment audience. “
The Board of Directors of the JSC will be equally represented among the appointees of the parties. The chairman of the board of directors will be the director of the board, who will be appointed in rotation by each shareholder, the first of which will be Alera.
Source: Deadline
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