FOOTBALL fans face rocketing bills to watch live games under Labour’s alarming pledge to nationalise BT and other broadband providers, industry experts warned last night.
Just yesterday BT Sport announced it had won the exclusive rights to show Champions League football until the mid-2020s, paying £1.2billion for the package.
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And along with Sky Sports, it has paid £4.4billion to show Premier League matches for the next three years.
BT Sport offers customers deals to watch their coverage as part of bundle packages along with broadband.
But industry insiders warned that Labour’s plans for the state to provide free broadband would end the ability of BT Sport, Sky and other providers to offer affordable deals to football fans.
They warned the cost of watching live football at home or in the pub would shoot up under Labour’s plans.
‘PRICES COULD SKYROCKET’
BT insiders said nationalising parts of the business would have a “fundamental impact on the business model”. One said: “It could put sports coverage at risk – as well as other products and services – because the whole business model would change.”
They added: “If you take out any part of our business on its own you would have to fundamentally rethink it all.
“Often we provide sports packages free or subsidised to make our service more enticing to customers overall, so if you take that away you’re weakening the value we can offer to consumers.
“Prices could skyrocket or make difficult to offer at all.”
Former digital minister Ed Vaizey warned: “The broadband market is very competitive and in order to get customers, a lot of these companies provide fantastic content at discounted rates or even free.
“So all those incentives to attract customers with fantastic sports packages would go – and prices to watch sport would have to be hiked.”
He added: “It would lead to people paying directly for sports coverage instead of it being subsidised by the profit made on broadband deals.
“It would be a massive loss to footy fans up and down the country.”
