BT selects Olympic site for home of sports channels

UK telco BT has selected part of the former Olympics International Broadcast Centre in east London as the home of its new sports channels.

The company has agreed to become a long term anchor tenant of the building, and will refit part of it to house three TV studios, a control centre, 20 edit suites and an audience holding area.

BT will launch up to three sports channels next summer having secured the rights to a number of sports, including Premier League football, international football leagues and Premiership rugby.

Ian Livingston, chief executive of BT, said: “BT is leading the way to secure the Olympic sporting legacy for the community. We see this as a natural continuation of our role as official communications services partner for London 2012. BT Sport will be a visible and engaged partner for the community and the studio will be a reminder of the incredible sporting feats we witnessed during the Olympics and Paralympics. The Olympic Park will be an iconic sporting backdrop for BT Sport. We want to create jobs in the area and to explore sporting links with local schools as well as looking at how we can offer our production facilities to other companies.”