After months of waiting, BT and WBD confirmed today that BT Sport will be rebranded TNT Sports this July.
The rebrand became necessary after BT and Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) entered a joint venture last year, resulting in the operational merger of their respective sports channel businesses in the UK and Ireland.
BT is also in the process of transferring its consumer-facing business to EE, meaning the BT brand is gradually being removed altogether from its non-B2B services.
In a press statement this afternoon, WBD confirmed the new brand will hit TV screens ahead of the next football season. And subscribers to Discovery+ will be able to access both TNT Sports and Eurosport, plus Discovery’s entertainment services, within a single subscription.
But WBD wouldn’t elaborate on the cost of the service, which is likely to rise upon arrival of live Premier League football. Discovery+ Entertainment & Sport currently costs £6.99 a month. Sky currently offers most of its customers free access to Discovery+.
Eurosport will retain its current branding and will continue to be available as it is now, until it’s rolled into the new brand in the future. Eurosport currently operates around the world, and it’s not clear if TNT Sports will become WBD’s new master sports brand globally.
TNT Sports will show all the live sport currently being shown on BT Sport.
It’s not all good news: behind the scenes, BT Sport staff are already affected by job losses, and its home at the Olympic Park, built in the afterglow of London 2012 is being ditched, in favour of WBD’s existing facilities at Chiswick and Stockley Park.
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PICTURED: TNT Sports logo. COPYRIGHT: WBD.
Dwayne Barker (@b1gduk)
It’s not all good news ? Where is any good news. BT selling out to the Yanks. Now it will be 5 mins content vs 15 mins Budweiser adverts and cost more too.