Prepare for a barrage of explosion jokes, cycling fans – Eurosport is soon to become TNT Sports in the UK and Ireland when it officially merges with BT Sport next year.
After Eurosport’s owner Warner Bros. Discovery formed a 50:50 Joint Venture with BT Group in August 2022, existing subscribers to BT and Discovery+/Eurosport got access to the other services in the group with the intention of combining them in a new sports brand, and yesterday the company announced that was TNT Sports.
Named after Warner Bros. Discovery’s US network that shows European football as well as NBA, NHL and NCAA college sports, TNT Sports will initially replace the BT Sport name in July 2023 with the Discovery+ streaming platform giving customers access to TNT Sports, Eurosport and the company’s other entertainment offerings.
Eurosport itself will stay as a standalone channel until next year – supposedly after the Paris Olympics – when it will become part of TNT Sports.
President and managing director of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, Andrew Georgiou, said, ‘Today is another important step towards the launch of a simpler and even more compelling offering for sports fans in the UK and Ireland.
‘The TNT sports name is already synonymous with premium live sport in a number of countries around the world and a further sign of the global scale and expertise that Warner Bros. Discovery brings to its partnership with BT.’
Although it won’t change much for streamers who just tune into the cycling – especially as GCN+ should stay the same – it looks likely to mean that fans of other sports will get the football, rugby and other sports currently shown by BT Sport in the same package as the cycling.
The cost of that service – and whether it will increase from the current Discovery+ and Eurosport subscription – is yet to be announced.
