BT Sport

[RR]

The quote re ESPN content was that there would be a “continued relationship” with them. That can be read a number of ways, from the existing deal which gives a large number of hours content, to somewhat less than that. It is also very dependent on what ESPN owns the worldwide rights to at any time, a somewhat lower portion of their content than the rest of Disney.

[Brekkie]

Does ESPN have any presence at all on Disney+ outside the UK?

[Rdd]

Does ESPN have any presence at all on Disney+ outside the UK?

Not in the US, but there’s a bundle of Disney+,Hulu, and ESPN+.

In markets outside the US that have a local ESPN, Star is typically bundled with that, as Star+, with Disney+ a separate service to Star+ in those markets (with no Star tile).

[BcastCornwall]

It’s my understanding that BT were talking about abandoning this ‘restructure’ as little as three weeks ago, no details I’m afraid. If so there must have been a somewhat significant nudge very recently.

I’ve also heard that a FTA offering might be on the cards offering the Quest overflow and highlights from across the combined offering.

I’m surprised to see a 50:50 split is envisaged, clearly increasing the current ES portfolio position and conversely reducing the BT one.

Branding will be critical. I can’t see either BT or Eurosport featuring, so something new will be used.

Discovery’s feeds from Paris to Stratford will be significant to engineer and distribute.

Apparently untangling the BT infrastructure for DAZN was seen in the light of the Red Bee incident to be fraught with difficulties too.

I can see an almighty rush to conclude this combination prior to August too. A switch mid season would be messy, so a July/August aim must be achieved.

(Sources: various and private)

(Sorry been absent, I've felt unable to comment on this matter until today for personal reasons, and felt it a suitable time to withdraw from here for a while too) 

Anyway, 

My contacts were pretty near damn right on this. The widely dismissed total rebranding of both services 'eventually' is coming. WBD Eurosport looking likely to move all of their operations to Here East too. The interim BT Sport 4 channel probably coming in August if things pan out as expected. Possibility that BT Sport Ultimate is likely to be the first channel to feature Eurosport content pretty soon as well. 

Onwards.

[ArthurVX]

Does ESPN have any presence at all on Disney+ outside the UK?

Not in the US, but there’s a bundle of Disney+,Hulu, and ESPN+.

In markets outside the US that have a local ESPN, Star is typically bundled with that, as Star+, with Disney+ a separate service to Star+ in those markets (with no Star tile).

Specifically, in Latin America. In fact, one of Star+'s major USPs is the fact it has nearly everything ESPN has in the region (as well as most content from Disney's "mature" brands and some third-party content). Also, ESPN is one of the winners of the CONMEBOL rights tender in South America for the 2023-26 cycle (retaining the CONMEBOL Libertadores across the continent and adding the CONMEBOL Sudamericana in Brazil)

[Transmission]

Not quite BT Sport related but BT has today confirmed that the business is changing. To summarise all domestic BT customers who have landline, broadband and TV will move over to EE. Only business customers and a few legacy customers will be operated under the BT banner.

Following on from this, BT Sport is now being branded on air in idents and bumpers (at least around Champions League coverage) as "BT Sport Connected by EE".

[Brekkie]

I just don't get why they're throwing away such a heritage brand for something best known for Kevin Bacon adverts.

[Rdd]

France Telecom did the same, moved over to the Orange brand once owned by Hutchinson.

I remember when eircom rebranded as eir, there was some quote about the average life of a telecoms brand being relatively short (something in the order of less than a decade) and that they “needed” to rebrand to keep up. I’m not sure where that leaves 31 year old BT (or more if you count the previous decade as British Telecom) or the positively ancient AT&T which has been around for 137 years (although the public facing brand was “Bell” until the 1982 breakup).

[Hatton Cross]

I know the Discovery/BT Sport joint venture will have a new name, but there is, with the 'rebrand' of BT to the mobile network name, a convenient way of naming the new sports broadcaster with a name not a million miles away from each other at the moment - EEurosport.

[Mateus Honrado]

I know the Discovery/BT Sport joint venture will have a new name, but there is, with the 'rebrand' of BT to the mobile network name, a convenient way of naming the new sports broadcaster with a name not a million miles away from each other at the moment - EEurosport.

I can't see EEurosport being used at all.

[Brekkie]

Or to give it it's full name "BT EE Warner Bros Discovery Eurosport".

I think if any branding takes prominence it'll be on the Discovery side. I suspect BT are more likely to sell their share in it on over the next few years than Discovery.

[JetixFann450]

I definitely think that Discovery would have final say on the name, especially considering that in some territories that didn't have a Eurosport, they were branded as "DSport", still having the iconic Eurosport star as part of their logo.

But to say whether or not they'd want to axe a brand name with lots of embedded history is really telling.

[Inspector Sands]

I just don't get why they're throwing away such a heritage brand for something best known for Kevin Bacon adverts.

It's a heritage brand but not necessarily for what they'll be providing from now on. When people think BT they think of land-line phones and bad broadband, not mobiles or TV. 

They left the mobile market when it was in a boom period and haven't really bee associated with it since.

[BcastCornwall]

Checking out a rebranding 'story', will post if I get any substantiation to it.

[Mateus Honrado]

Or to give it it's full name "BT EE Warner Bros Discovery Eurosport".

Or just not give it that name at all.