BT tempts fans with cheap footie downloads

 Deal allowing you to follow your team for less that £1 a week could give Sky a kicking

BT is banking on cheap football downloads to entice customers to its new TV download service, BT Vision.

The telecoms operator has teamed up with Barclays Premier League football to allow fans the chance to catch up with Premier games for just £4 per month. BT Vision Sport is the latest addition to the fledgling BT Vision download TV service, which BT hopes will help it carve out a niche in the IPTV market.

The company is targeting it at users of its Total Broadband service that don’t want to fork out high monthly subscriptions to Sky for sports coverage. This ‘near-live’ service will give fans access to games coverage a few hours after the event and BT is also plugging a live sports package with Setanta sports, for £12 per month.

With BT Vision Sport, footie fans can pay £1.99 to watch one of the 242 near-live matches or spend £4 per month to have access to all of the near-live games. Fans that pay the £12 for the ‘Total’ package will have access to 75 per cent of the premier games live and all of the near-live coverage.

“This is a great day for sports fans,” claimed Ian Livingston, BT Retail CEO. “Fans can now follow their team for less than a pound a week. Why pay sky-high prices now there’s an alternative?”

Dan Marks, BT Vision CEO, said: “We’re a sports-loving nation and ordinary fans shouldn’t be priced out of the action. Millions of fans have resisted subscription services to date and so we feel there’s a substantial gap in the market.

"Highlights on Match of The Day are fine but many fans want more, particularly those who follow teams that aren’t often featured live. BT’s unique mix of live and on demand sport means there is something for everyone, at prices people can afford and on the terms they choose.”