After months of negotiations with third-parties, including DAZN, BT has agreed a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to form a new premium sports offering in the UK and Ireland.

It was reported in January that DAZN was on the brink of a £500 million buyout of BT Sport. However, the BT Group instead turned it down in favour of a 50/50 split merger with Discovery's Eurosport UK division.

Discovery will take over the business operations of BT Sport but the new venture will be run in partnership with BT.

As part of the deal, customers who subscribe to BT Sport through BT itself, plus those with BT TV will get Discovery+ for no extra cost. That is home to documentaries and other non-fiction entertainment content, but also Eurosport's live and on demand streaming services.

BT Sport and Eurosport UK will continue to operate under their own brands to begin with, but will eventually merge under a new brand yet to be announced.

The overall deal could eventually earn BT more than £630 million, with £93 million paid up front and £540 million to be paid through an earn-out deal for the joint venture.

"As a global sports and entertainment broadcaster Warner Bros. Discovery is the perfect partner to work with us to take BT Sport to the next stage of its growth," said BT boss, Marc Allera.

"We're excited to be joining forces to bring the best of BT Sport together with Eurosport UK to create a fantastic new sports offer alongside all the entertainment that discovery+ has to offer BT customers."