(Sharecast News) – BT said it was in talks with Discovery of the US about forming a sport broadcasting joint venture as the company reported a 3% drop in profit for the first nine months of the year.
Pretax profit for the nine months to the end of December fell to £1.54bn from £1.59bn a year earlier as revenue declined 2% to £15.68bn. Adjusted revenue fell 3% and BT said it expected adjusted revenue to fall 2% for the full year.
The FTSE 100 group said it was in exclusive discussions to combine its sports business with Discovery’s Eurosport UK operation to forge a 50/50 joint venture. The companies are aiming to complete talks in the first quarter for the new company to become operational later in 2022.
BT’s sports unit broadcasts English Premier League and European Champions League in competition with Sky. The company launched the business to defend its broadband service against Sky, which offered free broadband to sports subscribers.
The company was in talks to sell the business to DAZN, a sports streaming service owned by Leonard Blavatnik, but those discussions…
