Deals

Warner Bros. Discovery, BT Group $773M Merger Approved

The U.K.’s Competition and Market Authority approved a merger between Eurosport UK and BT Sport.
The deal is worth an estimated $772 million.

Jul 22, 2022 | 03:05 pm

UPDATED Jul 25, 2022 | 03:26 pm

Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group have been given approval by the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority to merge Eurosport UK and BT Sport.

Under the $773 million agreement, BT Sport will become a Warner Bros. Discovery subsidiary in a 50-50 deal and earn $113.6 million over the next three years. BT Sport will gain up to an additional $660 million based on its performance, and Warner Bros. Discovery will have the option to buy out BT.

Now that it’s approved, the deal shouldn’t take long.

“We now look toward day one of the new business, which we hope will be in the coming weeks,” Marc Allera, CEO of BT’s consumer division, said.

The companies will remain under their existing brands before merging into one later.

Together, the new network will hold rights to a variety of major sports properties including:

English Premier League
UEFA Champions League and Europa League
Olympics
Grand Slam tennis tournaments
Tour de France and other cycling events

Moving Pieces

The deal’s original announcement was made not long after Warner Bros. Discovery became a single company in April as part of a $43 billion deal.

Sports streaming service DAZN was reportedly close to acquiring BT Sport for $800 million in January, but fell through when BT Sport proved “uneconomical” for the business, according to DAZN chairman Kevin Mayer.