BT does deal for Sky Sports 1 and 2

BT has signed a deal with Sky to bring Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 to its BT Vision IPTV service.

With wrangling ongoing over Ofcom's decision to set the wholesale prices for Sky's premium channels, negotiations have nevertheless been undertaken with both BT and Virgin Media over pricings.

Virgin Media already carried the channels, but agreed a new carriage deal as part of the sale of VMtv to Sky, and now BT has agreed a deal for its platform, following news that Freeview could get the Sky channel.

Delighted with milestone

Gavin Patterson, chief executive of BT Retail, said: "We are delighted to have reached this milestone, which means that we can be certain of offering Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 to our customers before the football season kicks off. We know our customers will be keen to sign up for the two channels."

The deal means BT customers will be able to sign up for the subscription channels from early July with BT Vision customers able to view Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 from August 1, in time for the start of the Premier League football season on August 14.

BT has stated that it will be revealing its pricing shortly.

Regardless of the behind-the-scenes manoeuvrings aside, the continued roll-out of the premium channels could have a profound effect on the shape of British digital television.

With Project Canvas now approved and ready to try to bring to IPTV what Freeview did for digital terrestrial television, and with Virgin Media and Sky both readying major changes to their respective services - we are certainly living in interesting times.