BT Sport announces price increase

BT Sport has announced that its subscription prices will increase by £18 a year for non-BT Broadband customers.

The broadcaster's portfolio of channels - BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN - will remain free for all BT Broadband customers but the cost of receiving the channels for customers with a different broadband provider, such as Sky's broadband service, will increase from £12 to £13.50 a month from October 1.

The move comes a year in advance of BT becoming the exclusive home of Champions League and Europa League football in the UK, after the broadcaster poached the rights from Sky and ITV in a deal worth around £900m.

Sky, meanwhile, is launching a new channel dedicated to European football, Sky Sports 5, despite losing the Champions League from its portfolio in a year's time. In a cunning move, the broadcaster is requiring Sky customers to manually activate the new channel, at the same time tempting them with a new two-year contract for free broadband service.