BT creates 400 jobs as it launches sports service

Telecoms giant BT is to create more than 400 jobs through the launch of its new sports television service.

The posts will be created across a string of UK contact centres including 45 jobs at facilities in Dundee and Glasgow.

BT Sport will show 38 live ­Barclays Premier League matches, including 18 of the top pick games previously only shown on Sky.

The launch of the service will also safeguard the employment of almost 200 staff who are being retrained to work on customer support. Gavin Patterson, chief executive of BT Retail, said: “BT Sport is an important new chapter for us and it also promises to give a boost to the UK economy by creating hundreds of new job opportunities.

“BT Sport is about giving people more choice about what they watch, where they watch it and how much they pay.”

Former England world cup winner and Lions rugby star Lawrence Dallaglio, who will be one of the faces of the new service, said: “BT Sport has huge ambitions for rugby and I’m delighted to be involved with that from the beginning.”