The Premier League is in talks to approve the sale of BT Sport midway through the broadcaster's latest term as one of the top tier's main rights-holders.Dazn, the streaming giants bankrolled by the billionaire Sir Leonard Blavatnik, has long been the front-runner to secure a deal, although Discovery has tried to gatecrash an agreement.BT Sport’s deal with the most lucrative domestic league in the world expires in 2025 so the 20 clubs would be entitled, in theory, to derail a takeover.However, approval is all-but-certain for the two potential suitors involved. BT will also need a green light from Uefa because it has rights for the Champions League and Europa League.BT Sport paid £385 million for the live rights to 52 Premier League matches a season from 2019 to 2022.The deal was rolled over for another three years as part of an agreement involving Government to minimise the financial impact of Covid.Talks between BT and Dazn towards a £600m sale of BT Sport became bogged down by wrangling over commercial details in December, but Blavatnik remains in pole position for the takeover.The company developed talks with Discovery as a "plan B" to ensure a transaction can go ahead if talks collapse.BT and Dazn, a heavily loss-making international venture sometimes labelled the “Netflix of sport”, were said to have struggled to reach agreement over how the commercial risks of a sale would be shared.BT is seeking an exit from sports broadcasting nearly a decade after it ambushed Sky in the 2012 Premier League rights auction.At launch it made BT Sport free for broadband customers, in an effort to staunch the flow of defections to its then-bitter rival.In recent years the pair have reached a truce that involves each providing access to their sports channels to the other.BT aims to exit the business to avoid exposure to the volatile rights market and allow it to concentrate on improving customer service in its core broadband and mobile operations.
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