What is TNT Sports?
TNT Sports is a group of subscription sport television channels and a website serving the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. SVG Europe reported on 18 July 2023 that "TNT Sports – the new name and face of BT Sport – has launched today (18 July) throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland", across "up to four TV channels (TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports 2, TNT Sports 3, TNT Sports 4), up to six digital or red-button channels (TNT Sports 5 to 10), TNT Sports Ultimate and TNT Sports Box Office HD" [3].
The company behind it is a joint venture. Warner Bros. Discovery announced on 31 August 2022 that it had closed a transaction with BT Group combining "the assets of BT Sport and Eurosport UK" into a 50:50 venture with equal board representation, and stated that "BT Sport and Eurosport UK will retain their separate product propositions for a period of time" while "the intention is to launch a new sports brand in the market" [1]. That closing announcement does not name the brand.
Whether the 50:50 structure recorded in August 2022 still stands could not be confirmed from a source retrieved on 19 September 2026, and no later ownership position is asserted here.
What does TNT Sports cover?
In Premier League football, the league announced on 4 December 2023 that TNT Sports had been awarded package A, "52 live matches per season, including exclusive coverage of matches played on Saturdays at 12.30pm", for the four seasons from 2025-26 to 2028-29 [4].
Warner Bros. Discovery Sports lists the wider portfolio for the United Kingdom and Ireland: "529 UEFA Champions, Europa and Conference League matches"; the Australian Open across Europe "until at least 2031"; "Grand Tour and World Tour cycling" and the UCI Mountain Bike World Series; "every major winter sports World Championship and World Cup event"; "every MotoGP race, British and World Superbikes"; "the World Snooker Tour"; UFC; rugby; and "the Olympic Games 2026-2032" [5]. A release of 16 August 2024 added "every match of Gallagher Premiership Rugby for the first time" and "All the Autumn Nations Series rugby internationals", with coverage carried "through its streaming destination discovery+ and across all major TV platforms" [6].
The UEFA Champions League position is time-limited and dated. SportsPro reported on 19 May 2026 that the 2025-26 season was "the penultimate year of Uefa and TNT’s partnership, which expires at the end of the 2026/27 season", and that the 2026 final was not broadcast free-to-air in the United Kingdom, which it described as the first time this had happened in the competition’s history; the report states that the match was kept exclusive to TNT Sports pay television and HBO Max [7].
How large is TNT Sports' audience?
No measured audience figure for TNT Sports could be retrieved. Television audiences in the United Kingdom are measured by BARB, and no BARB reading specific to the TNT Sports channels was found in the sources retrieved for this page.
Digital measurement does not reach it either. TNT Sports does not appear in the Ipsos iris ranking of UK sports news websites reported by Press Gazette, which lists Sky Sports first on 6.9 million monthly visitors for May 2023 and does not include broadcaster sport properties beyond it [8].
No subscriber total was retrieved from Warner Bros. Discovery or from BT Group. What can be stated with a source is the distribution arrangement rather than its size: the 16 August 2024 release describes coverage carried through discovery+ "and across all major TV platforms" [6], and the May 2026 report describes the Champions League final as exclusive to TNT Sports pay television and HBO Max, which SportsPro says had launched in the United Kingdom earlier that year [7].
Since when has TNT Sports existed?
Three dates belong to three different events and are kept apart here. The joint venture closed on 31 August 2022, when Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group combined the assets of BT Sport and Eurosport UK into a 50:50 company [1]. That is a change of ownership.
The rename was announced separately. BT stated on 22 February 2023 that "TNT Sports is the new name that will replace BT Sport, from July 2023", with BT’s Marc Allera quoted as "chair of our Joint Venture with Warner Bros. Discovery" [2]. The service then launched under the new name on 18 July 2023 [3].
None of the three is a founding date for the underlying channels. BT Sport and Eurosport UK both predate the 2022 transaction, and no founding date for either predecessor could be established from a source retrieved for this page.
Why does TNT Sports matter in the United Kingdom's sport?
It is the second holder of live Premier League television rights in the 2025-26 to 2028-29 cycle, with 52 matches a season and exclusivity in the Saturday 12.30 slot [4]. That slot exclusivity is a structural position rather than a volume one: it is the only live Premier League football available anywhere in the United Kingdom at that time.
It is also where several sports reach a UK audience at all. Warner Bros. Discovery Sports lists the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Conference League, the World Snooker Tour, MotoGP and British and World Superbikes, Grand Tour and World Tour cycling, winter sports World Cups and World Championships, and the Olympic Games from 2026 to 2032 [5]. Rugby union was added in 2024, with every Gallagher Premiership match and the Autumn Nations Series [6].
Its rights position is dated and due to change. SportsPro reported on 19 May 2026 that the UEFA partnership expires at the end of the 2026-27 season, and that from 2027-28 Paramount+ is to take the majority of Champions League coverage, Amazon to retain Tuesday matches and Sky Sports to take the Europa League and Conference League [7]. Those are scheduled changes, not completed ones. See also broadcast rights.
References
- Warner Bros. Discovery — Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group close transaction to form sports joint venture, 31 August 2022. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- BT Group newsroom — TNT Sports is the new name for BT Sport, 22 February 2023. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- SVG Europe — BT Sport rebrands and launches as TNT Sports today, 18 July 2023. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- Premier League — Premier League completes sales process for UK live rights and free-to-air highlights, 4 December 2023. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- Warner Bros. Discovery Sports — sports rights portfolio. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- Warner Bros. Discovery Sports — TNT Sports in the UK and Ireland to deliver a season of live sport, 16 August 2024. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- SportsPro — Champions League final not broadcast free-to-air in the UK for the first time, 19 May 2026. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- Press Gazette — Most popular websites for sports news in the UK, Ipsos iris. Accessed 2026-09-19.