Timeline of TNT Sports facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

TNT Sports is a popular TV channel in the United Kingdom that shows lots of exciting sports. Before it was called TNT Sports, it was known as BT Sport. This timeline tells you the story of how this sports channel came to be, from its early days as BT Sport to its new name, TNT Sports. You'll learn about the big sports events it has shown over the years!

The Story of BT Sport
The Launch of TNT Sports
See also

The Story of BT Sport

Starting Out: 2012-2013

2012
- 12 June – BT, a big company, announced that it had won the rights to show 38 Premier League football matches each season for the next three years. This was a huge step for them!
- September – BT also got the rights to show Premiership Rugby games and its fun 7s Series. Later that year, they added top football leagues from America, Brazil, France, and Italy.

2013
- January – BT shared that they would broadcast matches from 21 Women's Tennis Association tournaments.
- 25 February – BT agreed to buy ESPN's TV channels in the UK and Ireland. This included channels like ESPN and ESPN America, and important sports rights like the FA Cup. BT planned to keep at least one ESPN channel as part of its new sports package.
- 2 May – The new channels, BT Sport 1 and BT Sport 2, appeared on BT TV. A message on screen said they would be launching soon.
- 3 May – The channels also showed up on Sky, but they were jokingly called Sailing 1 and Sailing 2 at first!
- 7 May – BT Sport won the rights to show Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events and other UFC shows for three years, starting in August.
- 9 May – It was announced that BT Sport had signed a special five-year deal to broadcast MotoGP races from 2014. This included practice sessions, qualifying, and full coverage of Moto2 and Moto3 races. BT Sport also got the rights to show the FA WSL (women's football), the A-League (Australian football), and the Football Conference (English non-league football) for two years.
- 1 August – BT Sport officially launched at 6 PM!
- 3 August – BT Sport Films started, showing long sports documentaries.
- 15 August – BT made a deal with Virgin Media. This meant that Virgin Media customers with the TV XL package could watch the BT Sport channels for free.
- 9 November – BT announced a huge deal with UEFA to show the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League exclusively on BT Sport for three years, starting from the 2015–16 season. This was a big change, as these competitions had been shown for free on ITV for two decades. However, BT said the finals and at least one match involving a British team would still be free to watch.
- 1 December – BT Sport showed its first NBA (professional basketball) match. They were already showing college basketball games from the NCAA.

Growing Bigger: 2014-2017

2014
- January – BT Sport got the rights to broadcast the World Rally Championship for the 2014 season.
- June – BT Sport showed men's tennis for the first time. They broadcast live coverage of the AEGON Championships from Queen's Club.
- September – BT Sport launched its interactive service, BT Sport Extra. This allowed viewers to choose different camera angles or watch other matches.

2015
- January – BT Sport became a secondary broadcaster for the BDO World Darts Championship.
- 9 June – The ESPN channel was renamed BT Sport ESPN.
- 12–28 June – BT Sport covered its first big multi-sport event: the 2015 European Games.
- 1 August – BT Sport launched a fourth channel, BT Sport Europe. This channel was used to show European football and European rugby union.
- 2 August – BT Sport broadcast the FA Community Shield football match for the very first time.
- 23 August – BT Sport announced that it had won the rights to show Australia's home cricket matches for five years, starting in the 2016-17 season. This meant BT would show the famous The Ashes series between England and Australia in 2017-18. The deal also included other exciting cricket like the Big Bash League.
- September – BT Sport launched two more channels. BT Sport Showcase showed some events for free, and BT Sport Ultra HD showed selected coverage in amazing 4K quality.

2016
- BT Sport started showing live speedway races, taking over from Eurosport as the broadcaster of the Speedway World Championship.
- 22 May – BT Sport showed the finals of the FA Vase and FA Trophy, two important non-league football cup competitions.
- July – BT Sport became the main broadcaster for the Scottish League Cup.
- 4 August – BT Sport Europe was renamed BT Sport 3. This allowed it to show a wider variety of sports from BT Sport.
- 13 August – BT Sport launched its football scores programme, BT Sport Score.
- September – BT Sport became the official UK broadcaster for rugby union's European Champions and Challenge Cup competitions.

2017
- 8 April – BT Sport began showing boxing matches after making a deal with Frank Warren Promotions.
- April – BT Sport replaced Sky Sports as the main broadcaster for British Speedway.
- 21 April – BT Sport showed sports gaming for the first time, broadcasting live coverage of FIFA 17 tournaments.
- August – BT Sport broadcast the Caribbean Premier League cricket for the last time.
- September – BT Sport began showing matches from the FA Women's Super League.

Changes and New Deals: 2018-2021

2018
- 14 February – BT and Sky agreed on a new deal to show live Premier League football matches from 2019 to 2022.
- March–May – BT Sport broadcast the 2018 Indian Premier League cricket tournament. This was a one-off, as the event moved back to Sky Sports the next year.
- May – BT Sport showed Italian football (Serie A) for the last time.
- June – BT Sport showed the NBA for the last time before the rights moved to Sky Sports.
- August – BT Sport became the only place to watch all UEFA Champions League matches. This meant that, for the first time, there were no free-to-air matches from the competition.
- 15 September – BT Sport launched its pay-per-view channel, BT Sport Box Office, where viewers could pay to watch specific events.
- 4 December – The standard definition versions of BT Sport channels stopped broadcasting on Virgin Media.

2019
- 2 August – BT Sport 4K, the ultra-high-definition channel, was renamed BT Sport Ultimate.
- 3 November – BT Sport stopped showing WTA matches. The rights moved to Amazon Prime for the 2020 season.
- 8 December – BT Sport broadcast the Scottish League Cup for the final time. The rights then went to Premier Sports.

2020
- January – BT Sport became the broadcaster for the U.S. professional wrestling promotion WWE.
- March – BT Sport showed the Scottish Professional Football League for the last time. Sky Sports then got all the rights to the SPL.
- 29 August – BT Sport showed the FA Community Shield for the sixth and final time.
- 8 September – Because fans couldn't go to stadiums due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all Premier League matches in September were shown on TV. This included a weekly 3 PM Saturday match, which was shown on TV in the UK for the first time. BT showed three of these extra matches.
- 9 October – The Premier League announced that games not already scheduled for TV would be shown on a pay-per-view basis on either Sky Sports Box Office or BT Sport Box Office.
- 13 November – The Premier League confirmed that pay-per-view matches would stop. All games in December and January would be shown by Sky Sports and BT Sport, with some also on Amazon Prime and the BBC.

2021
- 5 February – BT Sport secured the rights to show all international and domestic cricket played in the West Indies and New Zealand for the next two years. This included England's tour to the West Indies in 2022.
- 9 May – BT Sport's coverage of the FA Women's Super League ended. The rights for this competition moved to Sky Sports.
- 13 May – The Premier League announced that its next three-year broadcasting contract was awarded without a bidding process for the first time. BT Sport would pay the same amount for the same packages as before.
- 15 May – BT Sport's coverage of the FA Cup ended, as the rights moved to the BBC and ITV.
- May – BT Sport broadcast German domestic football for the last time. Sky Sports replaced BT Sport as the broadcaster for Germany's Bundesliga from the next season.
- 21 August – Serie A football (Italian top league) returned to BT Sport after being shown by other broadcasters since 2018. The new deal meant BT Sport would show six matches per round for the next three seasons.

Final Steps as BT Sport: 2022-2023

2022
- 11 April – BT Sport secured the rights to show live coverage of the Canadian Premier League football.
- 1 August – BT Sport ESPN was renamed BT Sport 4.

2023
- 28 May – BT Sport Score, the programme that showed live scores and results, was broadcast for the final time. This show ended as part of a review before BT Sport became TNT Sports.

The Launch of TNT Sports

2022
- 11 May – Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it had agreed to combine its Eurosport UK business with BT Sport. They would create a new company together, with each owning half. This deal was planned to be finished by the end of 2022.
- 22 July – The deal for Warner Bros. Discovery to acquire BT Sport was officially approved.

2023
- 21 February – It was announced that BT Sport would be renamed TNT Sports in July. It was also shared that Discovery+ would be the new place to stream the service online.
- 18 July – At 6 AM, TNT Sports officially launched! It continued to show the same great sports and programmes that BT Sport had, except for ESPN shows and American College Sport.