The British Bookmaker Betfred is the latest big name to get involved in the current British TV war involving BT and Sky. Fred Done and his team from the North West have signed a three-year deal to air BT Sport through Betfred’s own Betfred TV service, in all of its 1,370 bookmakers throughout the length and breadth of the country.
BT is the latest company trying to end the dominance of Sky, who has had the monopoly over the British TV industry for two decades. BT has injected £738m, over a three-year period, to hopefully succeed where the likes of Setanta Sports, ESPN and ITV Digital have all failed.
BT will launch BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN free of charge to existing BT Broadband customers who can stream the action live on their PC. BT has already hit the half a million-subscriber mark since the telecommunications company started advertising in a big way a few months ago.
That £738m buys BT the exclusive rights to 39 Premier League games and also takes the first pick of 18 matches ahead of their rivals Sky. In addition to the hustle and bustle of the English Premier League. BT and Betfred TV will also be showing live football from Italy, Germany, France, Brazil and America as well as a host of domestic cup-ties.
Betfred Managing Director, John Haddock, said: ‘We are delighted to have secured a deal with BT Sport and we are looking forward to showing some top quality action in all our 1,370 shops nationwide.”
Betfred TV was created by Satellite Information Services Holdings Ltd (SIS), one of the leading suppliers of content and programming in the betting industry, and was launched in time for this years Cheltenham Festival.
