A bird in the hand and all that, especially in RL.

BT have got the champions league they will be around for a long while.

Shocking decision.

At least see how things play out abit over the next 18 months. To agree 5 years, 3 YEARS IN ADVANCE is ridiculous.

It once again smacks of the powers that be bending over. Sky decide to get in early and see how much they can get away with without being insulting.

Barely before they've had chance to even make the offer 'YES YES YES YES'

'That's them done and dusted for 8 years, too easy'.

200 million for 5 years of the top division in a pro sport is peanuts.

'what if BT go bust? good move' - Seriously, are you for real?

BT going bust!
Check out the turnover and profit of BT compared to sky.

Isn't BT sport is being run as a separate company? If so, if its not making money, the people in power may well choose to eventually fold it.

Didn't someone say something similar happened to Itv and Itv digital, who had right to Level 2 football at one point?

Get real we are a pro sport yes, but a sport in the regions watched by (in the main) low wage earners, who would pay big money to advertise to them I doubt that BT would play much more if any. As to whether its a good deal remains to be seen

And who is responsible for that sad state of affairs?

A parochial and insular management team from the regions that doesn't care whether or not the top league has a club from cosmopolitan and prosperous London or Toulouse in it.

Toulouse, now there's an interesting place. Maybe football13 is just a bit too tough/rough for their palates, was speaking with an upper-middle class woman yesterday (some of my family are part of the "British" Establishment), I mentioned that the biggest show on Earth was on later (that's the Super Bowl), she said, that's a rough game, with basically no rules, obviously I just smiled and kept quiet, like a well brought up public school boy; but many of the decisions are obviously made by people in suites in posh/expensive London dining halls. Not until there's a form of a revolution will football13 be played in more areas of Europe.

The premier league are bringing forward the PL rights auction because they feel BT will find it harder to justify more outlay on sports once the markets see the amounts they are losing from their sports channels. They want to get in before the BT shareholders start to see the massive sums flowing out for PL and CL rights with so little coming in from subs. There will be a point in the next 2 to 3 years when BT have to justify their huge outlay with something other than slowing down the movement of broadband customers to Sky.

There is a good chance that Sky blow BT out of the water with ridiculous sums for the next round of PL rights and BT are stuck with paying big sums for ESPN level PL content plus their massive overpayment on CL rights.

A long contract doesn't mean they can honour it.

BT Sport isn't a separate business - it's part of BT Retail which is essentially the consumer facing bit of BT that includes, phone, broadband etc.

They aren't going anywhere soon.

Remember ITV digital? ITV didnt go bust, but they liquidated ITV digital and left the football championship clubs almost bankrupt!

BT could do the same with BT Sport

I am getting sick of Lenegan, criticises everything but never offers any solutions.