LONDON, Reuters – Britain’s BT Group said Thursday that it was in exclusive talks with Discovery (NASDAQ) about forming a joint venture of BT Sport (and pan-European television network Eurosport).

BT made the announcement after it announced that COVID-19 supply chain and COVID-19 would have a negative impact on revenue in this year’s fiscal year. BT decided to keep its sports broadcasting business rather than sell to DAZN (which had previously offered).

BT stated that the new venture would consist of a 50/50 partnership and it would continue to retain BT Sport’s major sports broadcast rights such as Premier League soccer.

Discovery had been competing with DAZN streaming service, who wanted to purchase BT Sport.

According to the companies, the joint venture will include the Olympic Games and Premier League, UEFA Champions Leagues, UEFA Europa Leagues, cycling Grand Tours as well as tennis Grand Slams, Premiership Rugby and the Winter Sport World Cup Season.

Marc Allera (CEO of BT Consumer) stated that the proposed joint venture would result in an “exciting, new entity for sports broadcasting” in the UK.

He stated that the partnership with Discovery will allow customers to access more content at more locations because of their shared vision for growth.

DAZN chairman Kevin Mayer stated in a statement, that although the deal with BT Sport was “uneconomical”, he remains committed to the growth of the British business.

BT’s announcement came as the company reported a trading update covering the nine months ended December. It showed that revenue fell 2% to 15.68 billion pounds. However, declines in international and enterprise revenues were partly offset by Openreach’s growth.

According to the company, adjusted revenue is expected to fall by around 2% due COVID-19 issues and supply chain problems.