ExclusiveMedia: "BT's desire to sell BT Sport marks the end of an era" (Arnaud Simon)

"BT's (British telecom operator) desire to sell BT Sport (pay-TV package) is a strong marker of the paradigm shift in the global sports and media landscape and the impact of this announcement, which comes in the midst of renegotiations of the Premier League TV rights in the UK, should not be underestimated," said Arnaud Simon, CEO and founder of In & Out Stories, a consultancy firm for national and international sports organisations, to News Tank Football on 03/05/2021.

"I see two main lessons in this. The first is that it marks the end of an era when telecoms operators invested hundreds of millions of euros in sports rights in order to be publishers of sports channels themselves... The second lesson is the gradual end of sports on linear pay-TV specialised in the genre," said the former managing director of Eurosport France.

"Compared to the sale of BT Sport, the interest shown by DAZN, Amazon and Disney is not necessarily good news for the sale of Ligue 1 rights in the short term, because the British market is a key market, in terms of its maturity, but also for cultural and…