BT Sport breaks through 1 million customer mark

More than 1 million households have signed up to the new sports channel offered by BT in its first three months, although the majority are existing broadband customers who are taking the service for free.

BT Sport, which revealed that it had a total of 833,000 pay-TV customers at the end of June, is aiming to rival BSkyB by airing sports content including Premier League football for the first time.

BT had previously said that 500,000 customers of its total pay-TV base had signed up for its sports channels between 10 May and 25 July, with the majority being existing broadband customers.

The 1 million mark has been reached between 10 May and 10 August.

BT said the majority of its sports customers were existing broadband subscribers , who get the service for free.

By comparison, Setanta, a previous challenger to BSkyB's dominance, took four months to reach the 1 million customer mark, though they were all paying customers.

"To have a million households onboard before the Barclays Premier League has even begun is terrific," said John Petter, managing director of BT consumer. "We said we would return sport to grassroots fans and they are cheering in large number".

BT Sports is showing 38 exclusive live football matches from the Barclays Premier League, including 18 of the 'top picks' of the next three seasons.

The channel is also airing live FA Cup matches for the next five seasons, along with rugby and tennis.

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