BT Sport

**BT Sport** is a group of sports television channels provided by BT Consumer; a division of BT Group in the United Kingdom and Ireland that was launched on 1 August 2013. The channels are based at the former International Broadcast Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. BT Sport is available on the BT TV, Sky and Virgin Media television platforms in the UK.

## Availability

In the UK, BT Sport is available in standard definition with all BT TV packages for BT Broadband customers, programming is also available in UHD called **BT Sport Ultimate** to BT Infinity customers for an additional fee.

On Sky BT Sport 1 only is currently offered for free to broadband subscribers as 'BT Sport Lite', regardless of what subscription they have. Plusnet TV also offered the same until 1 November 2021 when their TV brand was discontinued, however BT Sport is still available to Plusnet customers via the app service. Customers who wish to view the remaining channels can subscribe to the 'BT Sport Pack' in either standard or high definition. BT also provide broadband subscribers access to the channels via the BT Sport online player and mobile app. BT Sport pack Subscribers also receive **BoxNation** in standard definition only and Sky UK customers also have exclusive access to **AMC from BT** in the relevant definition.

Virgin Media customers receive **BT Sport 1, 2, 3 and 4** in HD and **BT Sport Ultimate** as part of their "Full House" bundle however, they do not receive **BoxNation** or **AMC from BT**.

TalkTalk TV customers must subscribe to the BT Sport Pack in order to receive the entire range of channels.

In the Republic of Ireland, BT Sport channels (except Ultimate) are bundled with **Eir Sport** subscriptions across all platforms, as a part of a deal BT had with what was Setanta Sports back then. The deal means **BT Sport 1, 2, 3, 4** and **BoxNation** are part of the Eir Sport Pack in the Republic, along with Eir Sport 1 and Eir Sport 2.

In addition Freeview HD customers received **BT Sport Showcase** and Virgin Media customers received **BT Sport Free**. They closed on 30 June 2018.

On 4 December 2018, the SD versions of BT Sport and BT Sport ESPN stopped broadcasting on Virgin Media.

On 6 February 2019, BT Sport released the app for the Xbox. It was *later released* for the Playstation on 31 May 2019 and is also available on the Firestick.

## Magazine shows

* ***Rugby Tonight*** - Sundays at 6:30 pm sees Craig Doyle, Ugo Monye and Ben Kay present a debate about rugby union. Their guests include current and former players and referees reviewing and previewing the Aviva Premiership and France's Top 14.
* ***UFC: Beyond The Octagon*** - Presented by Adam Catterall alongside Gareth A Davies and Dan Hardy
* ***Boxing Tonight*** - Presented by Paul Dempsey
* ***BT Sport Score*** - Saturdays at 3:00 pm, keeps up with the latest scores across the UK presented by Darrell Currie and Jules Breach who are joined by various pundits.
* ***UEFA Champions League Magazine*** - Fridays at 7:00 pm.
* ***ESPN FC*** - Sunday-Saturday at 11:30 pm sees Dan Thomas present a football debate show alongside a list of pundits and writers including Craig Burley, Stewart Robson, Steve McManaman, Steve Nicol, and Don Hutchison.

## Classic sport

BT Sport's weekday daytime schedules often include sporting action from yesteryear. Football features heavily and includes league matches from the 1970s and 1980s from both the ITV Sport, including full editions of *The Big Match*, and the BBC's *Match of the Day* archives. Also featured are FA Cup matches from the 1970s to the present day and UEFA Champions League matches. Other sporting action includes boxing matches from the ESPN and ITV Sport archives as well as MotoGP races and the Australian cricket.

## BT Sport Current Idents & Presentation

On 6 August the BT Sport’s on air presentation and idents were refreshed. The new look is very similar to the previous look. New fonts were introduced and channel specific branding removed from its menus.

1. BT Sport Current Idents
2. BT Sport 1 Current Miscellaneous Presentation

## BT Sport 2015 Idents & Presentation

BT Sport introduced new idents and presentation on 1 August 2015. The channel airs numerous idents with taglines and graphics that are updated frequently. Idents on the channel are followed by a menu promoting future sport fixtures across the BT Sport portfolio of channels.

1. BT Sport 1 2015 Idents & Presentation
2. BT Sport 2 2015 Idents & Presentation
3. BT Sport 3 2015 Idents & Presentation

## References

1. ↑ Brown, Lucy (21 August 2021). "Existing Plusnet TV customers to lose service". choose.co.uk. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
2. ↑ Baker, Nick (9 February 2021). "How can I watch BT Sport?". uswitch. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
3. ↑ "BT Sport FAQ".
4. ↑ "BT Sport free for millions of homes" (Press release). BT Group. 9 May 2013.
5. ↑ Hancock, Ciaran (22 June 2013). "Setanta to net deal with BT to offer more live Premier League games in Ireland". *The Irish Times*.
6. ↑ "Setanta Sports adds BT Sport to its line-up". BT. 24 June 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
7. ↑ Dedezade, Esat (7 February 2019). "New BT Sport app brings the beautiful game to Xbox". Microsoft. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
8. ↑ Phillips, Tom (6 February 2019). "Now you can watch BT Sport on Xbox". *Eurogamer*.
9. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (31 May 2019). "The PS4 now has a BT Sport app Just in time for the Champions League final". *Eurogamer*.
10. ↑ Goren, Or (9 July 2022). "40 Best Amazon Firestick Apps In The UK For 2022". Cordbusters. Retrieved 1 October 2022.