BT says sport service poised for strong start

More than half a million customers have signed up to BT’s sports coverage, the telecoms giant said today as it unveiled better-than-expected figures for the first half.

Outgoing chief executive Ian Livingston said the overall group was making “good progress”, grabbing a 50 per cent of the market for new broadband connections.

He added: “It is early days but we are very pleased with the strong start in BT Sport. More than half a million households have now ordered BT Sport and that’s before the channels have even launched.”

The launch of BT Sport at the start of next month is designed to increase customer loyalty and the amount consumers are willing to pay, while reducing the amount of subscribers who defect to take their broadband and phone services from rival BSkyB.

Figures today showed that BT’s revenues dipped 1 per cent to £4.4 billion during the three months to the end of June, while adjusted pre-tax profits rose 5 per cent to £595 million. Analysts had expected a dip in earnings because of the costs associated with setting up the sport broadcasting business.

BT last month signed up veteran sports pundits Danny Baker and Danny Kelly to front a football show on the service.

Livingston, who has led the group for the past five years, steps down in September to take up a UK government role as trade and investment minister. He will be replaced by Gavin Patterson, chief executive of BT’s retail arm.