Premier League games will be shown on TNT Sports from NEXT season

Premier League matches will be broadcast live on a new channel called TNT Sports next season. Sportsmail revealed on Monday that BT Sport would change its name following last year’s £650m merger with Warner Brothers Discovery, which will relaunch the channel next season with a homage to US cable station Turner Network Television.

TNT Sports will take over BT’s existing portfolio of live rights, which includes two more seasons of Premier League matches, the next four years of Champions League matches and Premiership Rugby. Warner Brothers Discovery also owns Eurosport, which will continue to operate as an independent channel in the UK until the 2024 Olympics, after which it will be folded into the TNT stable.

TNT plans to operate four sports channels from July and plans to fight hard to retain the Premier League rights when the current contract expires in 2025. The auction for the next rights cycle will take place over the next 12 months, with new players as Apple TV and DAZN are expected to join Sky Sports and TNT in bidding on matches. TNT already broadcasts soccer in South America, as well as basketball and ice hockey in the United States.

“In the upcoming rights auction, this is a premium service and our intention is to remain a premium service,” said Warner Bros. managing director Andrew Georgiou. “Our focus for any rights auction is to make sure we maintain that position in the market.

“Today is another important step towards launching a simpler and even more attractive offer for sports fans in the UK and Ireland. The TNT Sports name is already synonymous with world-class live sports in various countries around the world and yet another sign of the global scale and expertise that Warner Bros. Discovery brings to its partnership with BT.”