BSkyB 'keen to do TV sports deal with BT', says CEO

20th Nov 2013 12:19

BSkyB said on Wednesday it wants to end its row with arch-rival BT over TV sports coverage as it signalled an upturn in the TV advertising market.Chief Executive Jeremy Darroch said BSkyB was keen to do a wholesale deal with BT allowing both groups to offer their customers the full range of live sports.BT is currently able to show Sky Sports 1 and 2 to its TV customers under a deal imposed on BSkyB by British telecoms regulator Ofcom.But talks between the two groups about a wholesale deal under which BT would be able to show Sky's full range of sports channels have so far failed to produce a result. Both sides have accused the other of unfair treatment and Sky has demanded "a level playing field".But Sky is thought now to be keener to do such a deal with BT following the latter's success earlier this month in grabbing an exclusive £867m three-year rights deal to show UEFA Champions League football from 2015, for which Sky and ITV currently hold the rights.BT has eroded Sky's grip on live TV sport by launching its BT Sport channels in August, which have secured a £738m package to show 38 Premier League matches a season as well as top flight European football, Aviva Premiership rugby and women's tennis.Darroch told a conference in Barcelona that doing a deal was "a two-way thing" and that the two sides would have to see how their talks progressed.But he denied that Sky would have been willing to pay more for the UEFA deal and said Sky would invest the money saved in other programming.He also said the TV advertising market had been better than it had expected and that Sky had further to go in its cost-cutting and efficiency drive.PW