BT grabs more customers thanks to Champions League football
BT SPORT audiences rose by nearly half last year after the company splashed out nearly £1 billion on the rights to Champions League football.
The telecoms giant won a hotly fought auction to show the competition two years ago after spending £900 million on the deal.
It started showing games for the first time this season. It also bought the rights to show UEFA Europa League matches.
The number of viewers for the sports channel, which goes head to head with Sky Sports, rose 45% for the year ending March 2016.
The additional lure of live football helped BT increase TV customers by 28% to 1.5 million.
Chief executive Gavin Patterson also bought mobile phone firm EE last year to try and bolster the group. He said the integration of the company with BT was “going well”.
“We now see the opportunity to deliver more synergies than we originally expected, and at a lower cost,” he said.
Total sales rose to £18.9 billion for the full year, up 6% compared to the prior year. About £1 billion came from EE.
