BT Sport could ditch Premier League football after thousands of subscribers paying up to £28 a month quit
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BT Sport chiefs admit they are prepared to lose out on Premier League football after thousands of subscribers left the service.
Together with Sky, the broadcaster has invested billions in hoovering up the right to not only the Premier League, but also Champions League football and Ashes cricket.
But MailOnline reports that BT chief executive Gavin Patterson admitted yesterday that they have a 'Plan B' which doesn't include top flight football coverage.
Viewers on the Sky platforms could pay up to £28 a month for the HD service from BT Sport- plus a one off set up fee - while standard definition costs £22.99 a month.
If you have BT broadband the service costs just £3.50 a month.
(Image: Publicity Picture)
(Image: Getty)
The sports channels spent over £1billion to show Champions League matches - and faces the latest round of Premier League rights auctions this month.
Fees are expected to rise to £7billion mark and when asked if BT Sport could survive without the Premier League, Mr Patterson told MailOnline: "Yes, absolutely.
(Image: John Powell)
"I don't want in any way to diminish the importance of the Premier League of course, but it is just one of a broad set of rights.
"We will be competitive but ultimately won't go beyond the price it is worth to us. We have a Plan B."
Sky and BT paid combined £5.14bn in 2015 to broadcast 168 matches per season, with the latter taking 42 matches per season.
There has been speculation that internet giants Amazon would also be in the bidding for matches.
(Image: BT Sport)
Last month Sky and BT came to an agreement to help viewers.
Both have spent mega money in recent years during their battles over Premier League and Champions League coverage.
For football fans however, that has meant having to pay extra to watch all the action.
The Champions League, Europa League and some Premier League action has been housed on BT Sport, with the majority of Premier League action - plus live Football League - on Sky Sports instead.
However, the new deal agreed between the two broadcasters means that Sky and BT have signed off to sell their channels on their rivals' platform.
As such, BT will now supply its sports channels to Sky, and in return will sell Sky's Now TV service - including Sky Sports - to its customers, meaning fans can now gain access to all Premier League matches without having to choose between TV packages.