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Timeline of TNT Sports

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This is a timeline of the history ofTNT Sports (United Kingdom),and of its predecessor, BT Sport.

BT Sport[edit]

  • 2012
    • 12 June – The announcement of the rights to thePremier Leaguefor the next three seasons reveals thatBThas won the rights to 38 matches each season.[1]The news followed speculation that ESPN was reconsidering its position in the UK.[2]
    • September – BT wins the rights toPremiership Rugbyand its associated7s Series,and in November it picks up the rights to American, Brazilian, French and Italian top-flight football.[3][4]
  • 2013
    • January – BT announces that they will broadcastWomen's Tennis Associationmatches from 21 tournaments.[5]
    • 25 February – BT agrees to acquire ESPN's UK and Ireland TV channels business, consisting ofESPNandESPN America,as well as the rights associated with the channel, such as theFA Cup.BT will continue to broadcast at least one ESPN branded channel as part of its BT Sport package of services.[6]
    • 2 May – BT Sport 1 and BT Sport 2 are added to theBT TVEPG with an on-screen message saying that the channels are coming soon.
    • 3 May – The channels are added to Sky and are calledSailing 1andSailing 2.
    • 7 May – BT Sport acquires the rights to airUltimate Fighting Championshipevents and taped programming in the UK and Ireland for three years, from 1 August.[7]
    • 9 May – It is announced that BT Sport had acquired an exclusive five-year deal to broadcastMotoGPraces from the 2014 season, including free practices and qualifying as well as full coverage of Moto2 and Moto3.[8]BT Sport also buys the rights to theFA WSL,A-League,theFootball Conferencefor two years with 25-30 live games a season, including the end-of-season play-offs.[9]and programming fromRed BullMedia House.
    • 1 August –BT Sportlaunches at 6pm.
    • 3 August –BT Sport Filmslaunches, showing feature-length sports documentary films.
    • 15 August – BT signs a wholesale deal withVirgin Mediabringing the channels free of charge to customers on the TV XL package.[10]
    • 9 November – BT announces a £897 million deal with UEFA to broadcast theChampions LeagueandEuropa Leagueexclusively on BT Sport from the 2015–16 season for three years. The deal will end two decades of the competition being broadcast free-to-air onITV,although BT stated that the finals of both competitions and at least one match per season involving each participating British team would still be broadcast free-to-air.[11]
    • 1 December – BT Sport shows its firstNBAmatch, thereby adding professionalbasketballto its broadcasting of the College game which it shows as part of its coverage of theNCAA.[12]
  • 2015
    • January – BT Sport becomes the secondary rights holder to theBDO World Darts Championship.[14]
    • 9 June – ESPN is rebranded as BT Sport ESPN.
    • 12–28 June – BT Sport broadcasts its first multi-sport event when it covers the2015 European Games.
    • 1 August – BT Sport launches a fourth channel - BT Sport Europe. The channel will be used to show its coverage of European football and European rugby union.[15]
    • 2 August – BT Sport broadcasts theFA Community Shieldfor the first time.
    • 23 August – BT Sport announces that it has won the rights forAustralia's home matches for five years starting in the2016-17 season.This means that BT would showThe Ashesseries betweenEnglandandAustraliain2017-18with the deal also including theBig Bash League,the Women's Ashesand theWomen's Big Bash League.[16]
    • September – BT Sport launches two more channels. BT Sport Showcase will show selected coverage on a free-to-air basis and BT Sport Ultra HD features selected coverage in 4K.
  • 2016
    • BT Sport shows its first live speedway when it replaces Eurosport as broadcaster of theSpeedway World Championship.[17]
    • 22 May – BT Sport shows the finals of the FA Vase and FA Trophy as a double header. This builds upon BT's coverage of non league cup football as the previous year BT had shown the final of theFA Trophy.[18]
    • July – BT Sport becomes the rights holder of theScottish League Cup.
    • 4 August – BT Sport Europe is rebranded as BT Sport 3 so that it can show the full range of coverage from BT Sport.
    • 13 August – BT Sport launches its football scores programmeBT Sport Score.
    • September – BT Sport becomes the official UK broadcast partner of rugby union's European Champions and Challenge Cup competitions.
  • 2018
    • 14 February –BTandSkyagree a £4.4bn three-year deal to show live Premier League football matches from 2019 to 2022, but the amount falls short of the £5.1bn deal struck in 2015.[23]
    • March–May – BT Sport broadcasts the2018 Indian Premier League.It is a one-off as the following year the event transfers back to Sky Sports.
    • May – BT Sport showsSerie Afor the final time as in July is loses rights to Italian football toEleven Sports[24]
    • June – BT Sport shows theNBAfor the final time ahead of the rights transferring to Sky Sports.[25]
    • August – BT Sport becomes the exclusive holder of all rights to the UEFA Champions League. The deal includes live coverage and highlights. Consequently, for the first time, there is no free-to-air coverage of the competition.
    • 15 September – BT Sport launches its pay-per-view channelBT Sport Box Office.[26][27]
    • 4 December – The standard definition feeds of BT Sport stop broadcasting onVirgin Media.
  • 2019
    • 2 August – BT Sport 4K is rebranded as BT Sport Ultimate.
    • 3 November – BT Sport ends its coverage of theWTA,having broadcast women's tennis since 2014. The rights pass toAmazon Primefor the 2020 season.
    • 8 December – BT Sport broadcasts theScottish League Cupfor the final time. The rights transfer toPremier Sports.
  • 2020
    • January – BT Sport takes over as broadcaster of U.S.professional wrestlingpromotionWWE.[28]
    • March – BT Sport shows theScottish Professional Football Leaguefor the final time.[29]In recent seasons BT had shared the rights with Sky Sports but new deal sees Sky obtaining all of the rights to the SPL.
    • 29 August – BT Sport shows theFA Community Shieldfor the sixth and final time.
    • 8 September – It is announced that all of September's Premier League fixtures will be shown on TV due to fans not being into stadiums due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes a weekly 3pm Saturday afternoon match, shown on TV in the UK for the first time with BT showing three of the additional fixtures, including one on Saturday at 3pm.[30]
    • 9 October – The Premier League announces that October's games not scheduled for TV broadcast will be shown on apay-per-viewbasis on eitherSky Sports Box OfficeorBT Sport Box Office.[31]
    • 13 November – The Premier League confirms that the broadcasting of matches via pay-per-view will end and that all games in December and January will be shown by either Sky Sports and BT Sport with one game also being shown on both Amazon Prime and the BBC.[32]
  • 2021
    • 5 February – BT Sport secures the rights to all international and domesticcricketplayed in theWest IndiesandNew Zealandfor the next two years. This includes England's tour to the West Indies in 2022.[33]
    • 9 May – BT Sport's coverage of theFA Women's Super Leagueends when the non-terrestrial rights to the competition transfer to Sky Sports.
    • 13 May – ThePremier Leagueannounces that, for the first time, the next three-year broadcasting contact has been awarded without a bidding process. Consequently, BT Sport is paying the same amount for the same packages as it did for the 2019-2022 contact.[34]
    • 15 May – BT Sport coverage of theFA Cupends as the rights pass to the BBC and ITV.
    • May – BT Sport broadcasts German domestic football for the final time.Sky Sportsreplaces BT Sport as broadcaster of Germany'sBundesligaand Supercup from the start of the following season.[35]
    • 21 August –Serie Afootball returns to BT Sport after having been shown by other broadcasters since 2018. The new deal sees BT Sport showing six matches per round for the next three seasons.[36]
  • 2023
    • 28 May –BT Sport Scoreis broadcast for the final time. The rolling scores and results programme ends as part of a review into non-live sports programming ahead of BT Sport becoming TNT Sports.[38]
    • 18 July – After just under ten years on air, BT Sport closes down at 6am, and is immediately replaced by TNT Sports.

TNT Sports[edit]

  • 2022
    • 11 May –Warner Bros. Discovery EMEAannounces that it has reached an agreement to combine its Eurosport UK business with BT Sport in a 50/50 joint venture, in a transaction scheduled to be completed by the end of 2022 pending approval from regulators and sports bodies.[39][40]
    • 22 July –Warner Bros. Discovery EMEAacquisition of BT Sport is approved.[41][42]
  • 2023
    • 21 February – It is announced that BT Sport will be renamed TNT Sports in July and that Discovery+ will be the new streaming home of the service.[43][44]
    • 18 July – At 6am, TNT Sports launches. It carries the same line-up of programming and sports coverage as BT Sport had done, with the exception ofESPNprogramming andAmerican College Sport.
    • 24 October – TNT replaces Sky as rights holder to the NBA. The deal will see TNT show more than 250 games each season.[45]
  • 2025
    • January – TNT Sports' coverage of theWWEwill end when all WWE content in the UK will be broadcast throughNetflix.[47]
    • August – TNT Sports will take over as broadcaster of theFA Community Shield.
    • August – The new arrangements for broadcasting of the Premier League will see a significant increase in the number of games broadcast on television, with all matches not kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday now being shown live. Sky's number of matches will almost double and will now broadcast a minimum of 215 matches, up from 128, including all ten games from the final day of the season and the two midweek rounds previously shown by Amazon. TNT's total of 52 games/season remains the same. This arrangement runs until the end of the 2028/29 season.[48]
    • Some television coverage of theFA Cupwill, once again, go behind apaywallwhenTNT Sportsbegins a four-year deal with the Football Association to show the competition.[49]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^"Premier League rights sold to BT and BSkyB for £3bn".BBC News.13 June 2012.
  2. ^"ESPN could quit UK".Pocket-lint. 9 May 2012.
  3. ^"BT poaches Premiership Rugby rights from ESPN, Sky".Digital Spy.12 September 2012.
  4. ^"BT deals further blow to ESPN with new rights deals".Digital Spy.6 November 2012.
  5. ^"BT Sport broadens appeal as it signs live women's tennis with WTA agreement"(Press release). BT Group. 11 January 2013. Archived fromthe originalon 17 February 2013.Retrieved19 February2013.
  6. ^"BT buys ESPN'S UK and Ireland TV channels".The Guardian.25 February 2013.
  7. ^"Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) confirms BT Sport deal".Seen It. 7 May 2013.Retrieved7 May2013.
  8. ^"BT Sport to bring MotoGP™ to British audiences from 2014".MotoGP. 9 May 2013.Retrieved9 May2013.
  9. ^"BT Calling".The Non League Football Paper. 21 May 2013.
  10. ^"BT and Virgin Media sign wholesale BT Sport deal".BT Group. 15 August 2013.Retrieved15 August2013.
  11. ^"Champions League: BT Sport win £897m football rights deal".BBC Sport.9 November 2013.Retrieved9 November2013.
  12. ^NBA seals 'multiyear' UK broadcast deal with BT Sport
  13. ^Evans, David (10 January 2014)."World Rally Championship seals BT Sport TV deal with live coverage".Autosport.Retrieved11 January2014.
  14. ^BT Sport lands BDO World Darts Championship rights
  15. ^BT television boosted by sports channel screening Uefa Champions League
  16. ^BT Sport has secured UK TV rights to Ashes in Australia
  17. ^BT Sport steps into Speedway coverage
  18. ^"BT Sport wins joint FA Cup rights".BT. 17 July 2013.
  19. ^BT Sport launches ‘Fight Night Live’ bo xing coverage
  20. ^British Speedway moves to BT Sport for 2017 season
  21. ^FIFA 17 matches to be broadcast live on TV for first time by BT Sport
  22. ^"FA WSL on TV".The Football Association.
  23. ^"Premier League raises less from TV rights auction".BBC News.BBC. 14 February 2018.Retrieved14 February2018.
  24. ^Serie A: Eleven Sports gain TV rights from BT in three-year deal
  25. ^"Sky Sports and NBA announce four-year broadcast and digital partnership".Sky Sports.Retrieved2019-01-26.
  26. ^"BT Sport to launch pay-per-view Box Office channel".sport-onthebox. 17 April 2018.Retrieved20 August2018.
  27. ^"Canelo v GGG rematch to launch BT Sport Box Office".sport-onthebox. 18 August 2018.Retrieved20 August2018.
  28. ^"BT Sport secure WWE rights from rivals Sky Sports".The Independent.2019-06-20.Archivedfrom the original on 2022-05-07.Retrieved2019-10-31.
  29. ^"SPFL secures ground-breaking broadcast deals | SPFL".spfl.co.uk.Retrieved2019-08-07.
  30. ^MacInnes, Paul (Sep 8, 2020)."All 28 Premier League games in September to be shown on live TV".The Guardian.RetrievedSep 29,2020– via theguardian.
  31. ^Premier League's pay-per-view TV deal under fire from furious football fans
  32. ^Premier League confirms scrapping of controversial pay-per-view model
  33. ^"BT Sport to air England cricket from West Indies and NZ".5 Feb 2021.
  34. ^Premier League TV rights: Broadcasters agree to roll over existing deal
  35. ^Sky Spots announces exclusive Bundesliga rights for next four seasons
  36. ^BT secures Serie A football
  37. ^"Live: Pacific FC v Forge FC".BT.Retrieved2022-04-11.
  38. ^BT Sport axe Score results programme
  39. ^Metz, Axel (12 May 2022)."BT Sport subscribers to get major package upgrade completely free of charge".TechRadar.Retrieved12 May2022.
  40. ^Frater, Patrick (2022-05-12)."Warner Bros. Discovery and BT to Launch Sports Venture in U.K. and Ireland".Variety.Retrieved2022-05-16.
  41. ^"CMA approves BT Sport and Eurosport UK joint venture".Broadband TV News.2022-07-22.Retrieved2022-07-23.
  42. ^Szalai, Georg (2022-09-01)."Warner Bros. Discovery, BT Deal to Create U.K. Sports Joint Venture Closes".The Hollywood Reporter.Retrieved2022-09-03.
  43. ^Goldbart, Max (2023-02-21)."Warner Bros. Discovery & BT Group's UK Sports Streaming JV To Launch As TNT Sports".Deadline.Retrieved2023-02-21.
  44. ^Eurosport and BT Sport will disappear after TNT Sports rebrand
  45. ^Over 250 NBA games coming to TNT
  46. ^TNT Sports succeeds in last minute cricket deal
  47. ^"Netflix to Become Home of All WWE Content in the UK".23 January 2024.
  48. ^Premier League agrees record £6.7bn domestic TV rights deal
  49. ^"TNT agrees deal to show FA Cup from 2025-26 season".BBC Sport.Retrieved2024-02-15.
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