Up to 200 BT Sport jobs at risk as Warner Bros Discovery plots Stratford studio closure

Dec 24, 2023

BT

As many as 200 BT Sport employees who have been transferred to a new joint-venture (JV) with Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) in the UK face losing their jobs or having to apply for new roles within the combined company.

WBD, which has day-to-day responsibility for the 50-50 JV, plans to close down BT Sport's studios at the former Olympic Park in Stratford, east London when the lease expires at the end of the year and move production to its existing facilities in west London.

WBD has been exploring other potential efficiencies since the merger last year and has identified potential duplication. Meanwhile other positions are no longer required given the joint venture has no affiliation to a telecommunications company.

However, as part of an ongoing consultation into the changes, WBD has said that the merger and the resulting larger organisation will necessitate the creation of entirely new jobs and that priority will be given to BT Sport staff who fit the criteria.

"A consultation with representatives of BT Sport employees is underway," a WBD spokesperson told SportsPro. "This results from the expiry of BT Sport's lease in Stratford and move to WBD's existing facilities, as well as a proposed reorganisation of the business.

"Finding operating efficiencies was envisioned by the BT and WBD JV and is critical to maintaining our competitiveness in a fast evolving and competitive environment. BT Sport employees have priority for the new roles that have been identified within WBD's sports organisation and broader business. Given the consultation is ongoing, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time."

The Prospect union said the proposals were "deeply concerning".

"Hardworking staff who were transferred only last November in roles they were told were secure are now facing an uncertain future," said John Ferrett, Prospect national secretary.

"This is an incredibly unsettling time for our members at BT Sport and we will be doing everything we can to support them. Members who are due to transfer from BT to Warner Bros Discovery in future phases of the joint venture will also rightly be concerned about their future careers with the business.

"We are fully engaging with Warner Bros Discovery to understand what has led to this about face and why not one single job currently in BT Sport is due to remain under the organisation's stated restructure."

The union of BT and WBD's UK sporting operations is one of the most significant shakeups in the British broadcasting space in a generation. But, as with such transactions, there is often a very real human cost.

The future fate of the studios in Stratford had been one of the biggest question marks post-merger. The vast space was a symbol of BT Sport's ambition when it first challenged Sky a decade ago, housing essential broadcast functions and offering presentation possibilities that had previously been unseen on British screens. They even hosted WWE's NXT UK wrestling shows.

But remote production means the studios no longer have such an important technical role, while WBD already has its own, possibly more cost-efficient, facilities elsewhere that are capable of delivering Eurosport's augmented reality (AR) ‘Cube’ technology.

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