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BT scores with Sky deal

IN BRIEF: Live Premiership football could draw in fans for BT's struggling pay-TV arm
June 30, 2010

BT has agreed a deal with British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) that will allow it to screen live Premiership football over its underperforming pay-TV service, BT Vision.

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BT Vision has been struggling to woo customers in sufficient numbers, prompting the company to backtrack last year on its original 2m-3m sign-ups target by the end of 2010. At the end of March this year, BT Vision had 467,000 subscribers, well behind BSkyB and Virgin Media's respective 9.7m and 3.7m subscribers.

However, BT hopes that the promise of screening live Premiership games will prove a turning point. BT has talked about supplying Sky Sports 1 and 2 for as little as £20 a month, although it has yet to confirm its pricing policy.