Richard Kendal/RTS
Sir Leonard Blavatnik’s DAZN is in advanced talks to buy BT’s Sport’s channels.
A deal would push DAZN to the top table of the UK premium sports market, a position it has held in Italy since it outbid Sky Italia, since it bought the rights to Serie A earlier this year in a deal worth €2.5 billion.
BT Sport has rights deals that include Premier League, Premiership Rugby and Ashes cricket.
It said in April that it was in talks with potential partners over the channel’s future. The telco wants to concentrate core business including the deployment of 5G and fibre-based broadband. Talks are also understood to have taken place with Amazon, ITV and Disney.
Streaming service DAZN is widely available in the UK, where its principal attraction is boxing. However the app is not yet present on Sky Q.
Last week DAZN’s chair, the former Disney executive Kevin Mayer (pictured), told the RTS Cambridge convention he would “possibly” be interested in acquiring BT Sport. “We would love to have EPL. Ultimately, there are many paths to get there…BT Sport is a great business and a good sports service”.
