BT Sport Tops 500,000 Subcribers Before Launch

July 25, 2013

By Jay Stuart

The newest entry in the UK’s sports television market is off to a fast start in signing up subscribers. BT said Thursday that it has topped more than 500, prostate 000 subs for the new BT Sport package, whose first season of live Premier League action kick offs with Liverpool versus Stoke on August 17.

BT Group Chief Executive Ian Livingston said: “It is early days but we are very pleased with the strong start in BT Sport. More than half a million households have now ordered BT Sport and that’s before the channels have even launched.”

BT said it has spent about £40 million in pre-launch costs for BT Sport. The group added 23,000 pay-TV net subscribers in its first quarter ending June 30, slightly up from the 21,000 increase one year ago. BT had a total of 833,000 pay-TV subs as of mid-2013.

BT has announced a deal with Setanta to add the BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN channels to the Setanta Sports pack so that BT Sport will also be available in the Republic of Ireland from next month.