2016-2019 TV rights to the Premier League: Sky shares fall (-4.6%) and BT's are up (+1.8%)

Sky plc.'s stock, listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), closed down 4.6% (at £9.10 or €12.26) on 10/02/2015, hours after the British pay-TV group announced it had acquired the domestic audiovisual rights, 126 Premier League games per season over the 2016-2019 period to £1.392bn / €1.88bn per year, or £4.176bn / €5.64bn over the period. This represents a 83.2% increase compared to what Sky paid for the 2013-2016 cycle (£760m / €898m per season, £2.28bn / €2.7bn over the period).

Conversely, the BT plc.'s stock, also listed on the London Stock Exchange, closed up 1.83% (at £4.60 / €6.20) on 10/02/2015, after the British telecom group (owners of pay-TV channel BT Sport) acquired the domestic audiovisual rights to 42 Premier League games per season over the 2016-2019 period, for £320m / €432m per season, £960m / €1.296bn over the period. This represents a 30.1% increase compared to what BT paid for the 2013-2016 cycle (£246m / €291m per season, £738m / €873m over the period).

For Sky, the deal will be "challenging to explain" (Jefferies bank)

• "[For Sky, the deal will…