BSkyB Shares Dive 10% After BT Champions' League Deal

Shares in British Sky Broadcasting plunged 10% as markets reacted to news that it had been outbid by BT for Champions' League and Europa League rights.

BT revealed on the 9 November 2013 that it had agreed to pay nearly £900m ($1.4bn, €1bn) to show Europe's top soccer tournament for three years from 2015.

It defeated its two major rivals BSkyB and ITV to win the exclusive broadcast rights for the tournaments in just one round of bidding.

The current Champions League deal which is worth £400m has broadcast rights shared by ITV and BSkyB.

The next bidding war to show Premier League matches will be for the 2016-2017 season.

BT may also compete with BSkyB for a larger slice of broadcasting rights for Premier League games.

At the moment, BT has 38 premiership matches to broadcast a season, compared to Sky's 116 games.

BT said that customers accessing its sports channel will get a better deal than they do with Sky Sports.

It has also invested in its hiring of Jake Humphrey and Clare Balding to broadcast from new studios in the Olympic Park, as part of a £1.5bn foray into sports broadcasting.

Critics say BT paid over the odds, however.