Almost half a million BT Vision subscribers will get the chance to watch Premier League football at a knockdown price as part of the deal, which follows an Ofcom ruling forcing Sky to cut the price it charges rivals to show its premium sports channels.

The deal will be promoted in a TV ad fronted by football players Michael Owen, Shay Given and Gareth Bale, that will air from Friday (2 July). A below-the-line campaign will support the ad.

BT Retail marketing director Matthew Dearden said the deal will boost the portfolio of channels already offered on BT Vision and help it increase awareness of its TV offering.

“Customers are already enjoying the best of on-demand TV as well as having a wide offering of channels on BT Vision,” he sais. “Sport has proven to be a popular part of our offering in the past and it would be great to see that grow.”

Previously BT Vision offered the now-defunct Setanta Sports channels to its customers for free. Setanta aired about half the televised Premier League matches and 60 live Scottish Premier League games each season.

Pricing for the Sky Sports channels hasn’t been confirmed, although analysts expect packages to cost about £20 a month, including the two Sky Sports channels and Setanta’s replacement, ESPN.

This story first appeared on marketingweek.co.uk