TNT Sports loses almost £190m since BT Sport rebrand
TNT Sports, the broadcasting giant co-owned by BT and Warner Bros Discovery, lost almost £190m during its latest financial year, it has been revealed.
The business, which rebranded from BT Sport in 2023, has posted a pre-tax loss of £187.5m for the 12 months to 31 July, 2024, new accounts filed with Companies House show.
The total comes after TNT Sports lost £73.4m in its last year before rebranding under a joint venture between BT and Warner Bros Discovery.
The company had originally been launched as BT Sport in 2013.
The new accounts also show that its revenue from contracts with its customers increased in the year from £1.09bn to £1.15bn.
Advertising revenue at TNT Sports increased in the year from £51.1m to £72.1m while distribution revenue also jumped from £1.03bn to £1.07bn.
The company’s content revenue grew from £5.3m to £6.2m in the year.
TNT Sports shows coverage of the likes of the Premier League, Champions League, Europa League, Europa Conference League, the NBA, Premiership Rugby, MotoGP, cricket, UFC, boxing and WWE.
A statement signed off by the board said: “The directors are satisfied with the performance for the year.
“The United Kingdom sports broadcasting sector is a mature market driven by strong demand for live sports content, widely distributed across gitial and traditional platforms.
“The rise of streaming services offers further opportunities to enhance viewer experiences.
“The strategy of the company is to capitalise on this strong demand for live sport to deliver growth whilst also developing further product improvements to drive customer value.”
TNT Sports up against tough competition
The accounts for TNT Sports come after City PM reported in January that billionaire Sir Leonard Blavatnik had injected a further $827m (£630m) into sports streaming giant DAZN.
The businessman has now invested more than $6.7bn (£5.3bn) in the London-based sports streaming service.
DAZN is owned by Access Industries, a New York-based private holding company founded by Ukrainian-born Sir Leonard in 1986.
The company was created in 2007 following the merger of Premium TV Limited and Inform Group.
DAZN’s revenue increased from $2.19bn to $2.86bn in 2023, even as pre-tax losses widened from $1.20bn to $1.43bn.