BT Sport has been rebranded as TNT Sports.

This change comes after the creation of a three way partnership between BT Group and Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) in September final 12 months.

WBD paid greater than £600million (now $786.3m) to BT Sport to arrange the three way partnership, which implies the Premier League will likely be broadcast on a brand new home channel for the primary time in a decade.

Viewers can anticipate an all-women presenting panel for Premier League and Champions League protection and the addition of a Champions League highlights present.

The Athletic solutions the important thing questions on TNT Sports’ protection…

What does this imply for BT Sport subscribers?

Other than a brand new brand and channel title, it gained’t imply something totally different for BT Sport’s clients.

Andrew Georgiou, the president and managing director of WBD Sports Europe, mentioned the partnership is “going very well” and {that a} “hell of a lot of work” has gone on behind the scenes to get to TNT Sports’ launch day.

“We want to push the boundaries of what sports broadcasting,” Georgiou added.

Access to TNT Sports for present BT Sport clients by way of Sky, BT and Virgin Media will start right now (July 18). Those who consumed BT Sport by way of the app can proceed watching TNT Sports by way of that platform however must be aware that the app will shut down within the coming months.

Sky TV clients who subscribe to TNT Sports will quickly have the ability to entry the channel by way of an app on their boxset.

Is the month-to-month subscription value going to alter?

For now, no.

The Discovery Plus app, which may even home TNT Sports from July 18, goes to have three tiers.

Their primary tier, which incorporates its leisure providing, is £3.99 a month. A normal tier that can allow shoppers to look at Eurosport prices £6.99 a month and the choice to look at TNT Sports goes to value £29.99 a month.

This £29.99 a month determine is at the moment the identical value as BT Sport’s month-to-month move, and it’ll embody Eurosport and their leisure providing as a part of the deal.

It was not mentioned how lengthy it is going to stay at £29.99 a month, although. Going ahead, consideration will likely be given to inflation and the quantity they should pay for broadcast rights.

Are they going to bid for extra Premier League rights?

The Premier League’s home broadcast rights will likely be put out to tender later this 12 months and it has been reported that round 70 further video games will likely be made accessible to buy.

“It is too early to say (if WBD will bid for more games) until the packages come out,” Georgiou mentioned. “Once the packages come out and we see what they’ll do, then we are going to make a name.

“It is a extremely troublesome factor simply to say we wish roughly as a result of we simply don’t understand how they’ll be packaged, how time slots will work and what the picks allocation will likely be per time slot.

“We must maintain our position as a premium broadcaster and we will look at everything through that lens.”

Would they take into account broadcasting the Saudi Pro League?

The Athletic revealed in June that the Saudi Pro League has instructed IMG to secure international broadcast deals for the next two seasons (2023-24 and 2024-25).

Although Georgiou won’t rule out making a bid for the rights, the WBD president and managing director mentioned these conversations are but to happen.

“We haven’t thought about it at this stage,” Georgiou revealed. “We by no means rule something out and can take a look at all alternatives on their advantage.

“We begin with what’s our model proposition, what we wish to ship to the British and Irish public after which we are going to make the choice based mostly on these filters.

“We need to work out if people will watch it and what we think it is worth.”

Are they pushing for any extras to spice up their manufacturing?

Georgiou needs a change to the International Football Association Board’s (IFAB) guidelines that may enable broadcasters to play the two-way audio conversations between VAR and the on-field referee.

“At the moment, we cannot tell the audience what’s going on and that’s a challenge — and it’s a huge missed opportunity,” he mentioned. “We would welcome a change that allowed us to share extra about what’s happening between the referees.

“The more you can share, the better off you will be. Fans just want to understand and they can still disagree, but at least they know what they’re disagreeing with.”

In regards to their Champions League protection, with the competitors’s new format starting within the 2024-25 season, Georgiou mentioned they should “work very hard” to clarify what all of it means to their viewers.

“We’ve already had conversations with UEFA about working with all the other broadcasters,” he mentioned.

“What I would like to say is that we like the fact that there will be big match-ups early on. That will create earlier interest.”

Who is a part of their line-up?

Laura Woods, previously of Sky Sports and talkSPORT, is their new lead Champions League presenter, changing Jake Humphrey. Woods may even anchor their main reside boxing nights.

Jules Breach is changing Des Kelly because the touchline reporter, with Scott Young, the senior vice-president of content material and manufacturing at WBD, saying “the brand and Des was not a perfect fit”.

Ally McCoist, the previous Rangers participant and supervisor, is becoming a member of the channel as a co-commentator and pundit for Premier League and Champions League fixtures.

Young additionally mentioned rebranding BT Sport provided them the prospect to “reimagine sports broadcasting around football”.

TNT Sports’ different primary presenters for soccer will likely be Reshmin Chowdhury and Lynsey Hipgrave.

Chowdhury can also be going to anchor Champions League fixtures, whereas Hipgrave will proceed presenting Premier League video games. As nicely as working as a touchline reporter for the top-flight protection, Breach goes to host their Europa League ties.

Elsewhere, Darren Fletcher and Adam Summerton will proceed on commentary, whereas Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Peter Crouch, Robbie Savage, Michael Owen and Paul Scholes, amongst others, are staying on.

Peter Walton, the previous referee turned BT Sport pundit, isn’t being stored on, nor will he get replaced as TNT Sports are dropping that aspect of protection.

Their Premier League protection on Saturdays, the place they’ve the published rights for the 12.30pm kick-off, will start from 11am.

What else are they going to be broadcasting?

As a part of their Champions League providing, TNT Sports will start a brand new highlights present by way of the Discovery Plus app, the place viewers can watch — uninterrupted — all of the motion from the midweek ties.

Elsewhere, Eurosport has rights to the Olympics so they are going to be broadcasting the Paris Games subsequent summer season.

TNT Sports additionally has the published rights to Premiership Rugby, MotoGP, cricket, boxing and WWE.

One change they’re making to their providing is that the English soccer outcomes present on a Saturday will now not be a part of the channel’s protection.

“I think the evolution of media and the evolution of how fans follow their favourite team has probably changed the need for a programme like Score,” Young mentioned.

“That doesn’t mean we won’t, over time, look at how we best lead into the fact that there is a lot of football being played around that time. But we don’t necessarily need to use a linear channel to do that.”

(Top picture: Alex Livesey – UEFA/UEFA by way of Getty Images)