BT Sport set to move to Olympic broadcast centre

British Telecom (BT) has chosen iCITY and the north end of the former International Broadcast Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as the home of its new BT Sport channels, bbc.com reports 

The telecoms giant has agreed terms for a 10-year lease to be the anchor tenant of the building, which is part of the iCITY enterprise complex for the digital and creative industries.

BT will refit part of the building to house three TV studios, a control centre, 20 edit suites and an audience holding area. BT Sport will show 38 live games a season from the Barclays Premier League, including 18 of the top clashes, for three years from August 2013.

The live coverage will be fronted by Jake Humphrey, BBC Formula 1 and football presenter. The new channels will also show 69 live rugby union games a season from the Aviva Premiership.

The new Olympic Park studios will be a production hub for all the sports content that BT will offer and some programmes will be hosted from the studios. Some features and programming will be filmed at another iconic venue, the BT Tower.

Ian Livingston, chief executive of BT, said: “BT is leading the way to secure the Olympic sporting legacy for the community. We see this as a natural continuation of our role as official communications services partner for London 2012.”