Eurosport to close on UK satellite TV
Eurosport, a staple of British television for 35 years and the longtime broadcaster of events like the Tour de France, is set to disappear from UK screens.
On February 28, Eurosport 1 and 2 will merge into TNT Sports as part of Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD) reorganization of its UK sports offering. Executives claim this change will streamline and enhance options for sports fans, though questions remain about the availability of free-to-air content for viewers.
All Eurosport live and non-live content will move to TNT Sports on 28 February 2025 and WBD’s Eurosport-branded linear channels, Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2, will no longer exist.
Elsewhere, Eurosport’s channels and brand will remain unchanged in more than 50 other countries and territories where it’s available today.
TNT Sports’ rights in the UK and Ireland include Australian Open & Roland-Garros tennis, Grand Tour cycling, the UCI Mountain Bike World Series, every major winter sports World Championship and World Cup event, British and World Superbikes, snooker and the Olympic Games 2026-2032 alongside the Premier League, UEFA European club football, Premiership men’s and women’s rugby, MotoGP, international cricket, UFC and boxing. These will all now be exclusively available in the UK and Ireland on TNT Sports and its streaming home, discovery+.
WBD is also putting a selection of sports programming, documentaries and live sport on free-to-air channel Quest. This will mainly be used as a taster and driver of traffic to TNT Sports.
“Combining Eurosport and TNT Sports content in the UK and Ireland will enable us to offer a single, premium viewing experience for sports fans,” said Scott Young, senior vice-president at WBD Sports Europe. “We know audiences are looking for a slightly simpler journey on where to find the sport they love. This move will also continue to best deliver value for our leagues and federation partners, as we continue our 35 years plus commitment to investment and championing of sport on our screens.”
Yet many sports fans, especially those who follow snooker, skiing and cycling are up in arms about the changes. Eurosport has been available via satellite through Sky basic level subscription. Now fans will have to fork out another 30GBP to access the content on Discovery+. The Tour de France will be exclusively on TNT Sports in 2026, with ITV having lost the rights. And people wonder why there is a rise in prole using illegal IPTV services, when sports broadcasters take the piss like this.
Reports indicate that TNT is likely to secure the rights to the Six Nations starting in 2026. According to the RugbyPass website, the broadcaster would replace the BBC, with highlights packages being moved to free-to-air channels in compliance with regulations governing listed sporting events.
Comments
Eurosport to close on UK satellite TV — No Comments
HTML tags allowed in your comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>