A BT Sport logo is displayed in an office in the City of London, Britain, January 24, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville

LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - Britain's competition watchdog on Friday approved a merger of sports broadcasting businesses of BT Group (BT.L)and Warner Bros. Discovery .

The deal to combine BT's sports TV unit with Discovery's Eurosport in Britain and Ireland enables the British company to retain Premier League soccer for its customers, while sharing the burden of expensive broadcast rights. read more

BT, Britain's biggest broadband and mobile provider, agreed to a sports broadcasting tie-up with Discovery in May after months of discussions with the U.S. media company. read more

In June, Britain's Competition and Markets Authority started what it calls a Phase 1 investigation on whether the joint venture would reduce competition.

The authority said on Friday it would not refer the deal to a in-depth Phase 2 investigation.

BT Group and Warner Bros. Discovery welcomed the decision, which allows them to complete the creation of the joint venture, BT Sport and Eurosport UK, in the coming weeks and to transfer assets to it.

They said it would initially retain their separate brands and products before later bringing them together under a single brand.

BT and Warner Bros. Discovery will be equally represented on the joint venture's board.

The new company will be chaired initially by Marc Allera, chief executive of BT's consumer division. Management will be led by Andrew Georgiou, president and managing director of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Shares in Spanish renewable company Opdenergy traded almost flat on Friday after briefly rising 0.8% on their market debut, the first listing on the Madrid Stock Exchange this year.

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers.

Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology.

The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs.

The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals.

Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile.

Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts.

Screen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks.

All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays.