BT trademarks potential names for sports channels

BT, which launches its premium sports offering next year, has registered a number of trademarks at the Intellectual Property Office, including BT Sport1, BT Sport2, BT Sports1 and BT Sports2, and BT SPORT.

Sources close to BT confirmed the registered trademarks were potential brand names for the new BT sports channels, but said no decision has yet been made.

The new BT channel or channels will show the Barclays Premier League and Premiership Rugby games that BT won earlier this year, as well as other sports if it manages to win further rights.

Although there are no clashes between the Barclays Premier League and Premiership Rugby games, it is thought that many of the other sports BT is interested in could cause scheduling issues and so it would need more than one channel.

Last week, BT confirmed it had hired Simon Green, the former chief executive of boxing channel BoxNation, to run its sports channel. He will start his new role on 1 November.

Marketing's sister title Campaign revealed last month that BT was planning to scrap its BT Vision boxes and review the future of the BT Vision brand, when it begins to offer both free and pay-TV services through YouView boxes.

BT has spent tens of millions of pounds marketing its pay TV services since its launch at the end of 2006, but despite having offered Sky Sports 1 and 2 since 2010, it had just 728,000 subscribers by the end of June.

A spokesman for BT declined to comment.

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk