TNT Sports Launches in U.K., Ireland After Warner Bros. Discovery, BT Venture Rebrand, With Discovery+ as U.K. Streaming Home

Georg Szalai
·5 min read

Ahead of the start of the 2023/2024 soccer season, the TNT Sports brand is replacing the BT Sport moniker in the U.K. and Ireland as of Tuesday under a rebrand unveiled earlier in the year by joint venture partners Warner Bros. Discovery and telecom giant BT. “Promising to become the ultimate home for sport fans, TNT Sports heralds the most significant change in the sports broadcast landscape in the last decade,” the partners vowed, highlighting a focus on live sports.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s streamer Discovery+ becomes the streaming destination for TNT Sports in the U.K., in addition to sports already offered on Eurosport, bringing consumers sports events and entertainment under a new “premium plan” priced at £29.99 per month ($39.23), the same price as was previously charged for the BT Sport Monthly Pass.

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TNT Sports is available across all major pay TV platforms, including BT TV, Sky and Virgin Media. Existing BT Sport customers can watch TNT Sports without having to take any further action.

“TNT Sports goes live with a new and contemporary brand, a fabulous new and exciting lineup of talent, great value for viewers as well as flexible ways to buy and watch,” said Andrew Georgiou, board member of the joint venture and president and managing Director, Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe. “From today, fans can watch TNT Sports in the same places they enjoyed BT Sport and without any interruption to their access. In addition, with TNT Sports now on Discovery+ in the U.K., we can begin to deliver a simple and even more compelling offer that appeals to the whole household, combining more live sport together with entertainment. We believe this is an exceptional value proposition for fans offering a compelling combination of sport and entertainment that is unique to Discovery+.”

He had highlighted in February that the TNT Sports name “is already synonymous with premium live sport in a number of countries around the world,” making the rebrand “a further sign of the global scale and expertise that Warner Bros. Discovery brings to its partnership with BT.”

Georgiou previously also highlighted though that the TNT Sports name is still little known in Britain and Ireland, but described this as an opportunity. “This is a clean slate. There are people in the industry who might know the heritage of what the letters TNT stand for or what TNT means in the U.S. or Latin America, but the British and Irish consumer has no clue,” he said. “So for them, this is a clean slate, and having that clean slate for us means being able to make sure we can imbue this brand over time” with such principles as a global and broad sports portfolio.

Bringing together the two partners’ content portfolios, TNT Sports will “provide one of the most extensive lineups of live sports coverage for fans in the U.K. and Ireland, including the Olympic Games, the (English) Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, Premiership Rugby, MotoGP, UFC, Boxing, WWE, tennis Grand Slams, cycling Grand Tours and the winter sports season,” the partners have emphasized.

Another key part of the new brand is a refreshed talent lineup, including such presenters and anchors as Laura Woods, Reshmin Chowdhury and Jules Breach, providing more female voices in more key roles.

The 50:50 BT and Warner Bros. Discovery joint venture was formed on Sept. 1. Warner Bros. Discovery manages its operation, with the production and operational assets of BT Sport having transferred to the venture.

PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore highlighted key opportunities and challenges for the venture partners and their rebrand. “Initially, there will be resentment as it will feel like another sports brand entering the U.K. market in an increasingly fragmented world,” he warned. “During a cost of living crisis, this might give people a reason to cancel. Hence all focus must be placed on positioning and adding greater value for sports fans as part of the Discovery+ umbrella.”

He also described the rebrand as a “key step in a long journey where there will be other bumps to overcome.” For example, “maintaining key sports rights will remain ever so important to help during this transition for the next couple of years,” Pescatore highlighted. “All eyes now turn to the Premier League where the entity needs to build upon its current portfolio.”

But the analyst also noted that, “sport will now start to become a key differentiator for Discovery+ with the goal of offering users everything in one place.”

Pescatore further noted the more diverse group of on-air talent after the rebrand. “The reimagined talent lineup, which is more inclusive and diverse, will help connect with different audiences,” he told THR. “There’s a clear desire to ensure that the programming is less male-dominated – a challenge when it comes to (soccer) at times.” The expert called the goals “brand accessibility, humor and fun,” with on-air talents that are “passionate, (have an) energetic way, love what they do.”

While starting with a “clean slate” provides an opportunity “to simplify the overall sports experience for fans in the long term,” the expert also emphasized “numerous challenges in the short term of managing a multi-brand strategy which the new entity is fully aware of and will need to navigate carefully.” And Pescatore concluded: “It will be interesting to see how TNT Sports will be able to leverage other assets within the wider Warner Bros. Discovery family, including CNN, for example, in cross-promoting content,” such as sports documentaries.

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