BT Sport keeps price rises below RPI inflation with increase of 3.5%
The sports broadcaster said it would also delay linking its prices to the new business rates values until next year because it was “aware of the cost pressures pubs were facing”.
BT Sport commercial customers director Bruce Cuthbert told The Morning Advertiser that its pricing decisions were made “to ensure [the BT Sport service] was competitively priced and will provide value for the customer”.
To help publicans maximise the value they get from showing sport, the broadcaster has revamped the way it provides marketing material for pubs to tailor it to the needs of individual premises.
Pubs and bars will be able to select posters for the matches that will work best for them, via BT Sport’s website, by either picking from a range of different poster packs or by putting together their own pack by choosing specific fixture posters across a range of sports, including football, rugby and boxing.
The broadcaster said bespoke marketing material would help commercial customers in areas such as Brighton and Huddersfield, where clubs have been newly promoted to the Premier League, to promote games and make sure “they never miss out on promoting their teams”.
BT Sport will also make other marketing material, such as images and other media, available for pub customers to use to promote sport.
The broadcaster said the next 12 months will be “BT Sport’s strongest line up of premium live sport ever”, including the Premier League, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. Its channels will also show the FA Cup, Aviva Premiership Rugby, European Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, MotoGP, BT Sport Fight Nights and, new for this season, the Ashes.
The Community Shield, featuring Arsenal versus Chelsea, is the season’s curtain raiser taking place on Sunday 6 August. Just two days later on 8 August Manchester United face Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup, with the Premier League season starting shortly after on the 12 August.
Cuthbert said: “As we enter our fifth season we are incredibly proud to be offering customers our strongest line up of exclusively live sport ever. And what a season it will be, together with the Premier League and the FA Cup, we are the exclusive home of all the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League, and with five English teams in the UEFA Champions League for the first time, including the return of previous European winners Chelsea, Man United and Liverpool, the season will be our strongest yet.
“In addition to our exclusive domestic and European football, we also have Aviva Premiership Rugby plus for the first time Ashes cricket this Christmas and all new BT Sport Fight Nights featuring world class boxing. We think BT Sport continues to offer our customers incredible value for money.”
Last month Sky Sport announced subscription prices for commercial customers would increase by 5% from 1 August 2017. The broadcaster said it wanted to help keep costs for licensees down by basing its prices on the lowest business rates value, either from 2010 or 2017.
