UK telecommunications company BT has confirmed that its pay-television broadcaster BT Sport will provide the 2015-16 finals of the Uefa Champions League and Europa League via video-sharing platform YouTube, while it has agreed a partnership with EE, the firm’s mobile network operator subsidiary.
It was reported last month that BT Sport was considering live streaming the finals of the European club football tournaments. BT Sport currently holds exclusive live rights in the UK to the Champions League after agreeing a three-season deal across the 2015-16 to 2017-18 campaigns worth £897m (€1.1bn/$1.3bn).
The broadcaster has come in for criticism due to low viewing figures and it is hoped streaming the final via YouTube, along with on the free-to-air BT Showcase channel, will boost audiences. English Premier League club Liverpool takes on Spanish Liga team Sevilla in the Europa League final on May 18, while an all-Liga affair sees Real Madrid face city rival Atletico in the Champions League final on May 28.
The matches will be shown live on YouTube at youtube.com/btsport and bt.com. Neither final has ever been made available for free on the video platform before. John Petter, chief executive of BT Consumer, said the agreement will open BT Sport up to younger audiences and defended the broadcaster’s viewing figures for the opening season of its Uefa competition coverage.
“We plan to make these finals the most social sports broadcast ever, with lots of exciting content in the build-up and on the night across YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Vine,” Petter said. “Both BT and Uefa are delighted with what we have achieved in our first year as the broadcaster of the Uefa Champions League and Uefa Europa League.
“The Manchester City semi-final second leg against Real Madrid had an audience peak of 1.7m and we were privileged to show what most people regard as one of the truly outstanding European matches when Liverpool came back to beat Borussia Dortmund 4-3 in the Europa League quarter-finals. That game had an audience high of 1.6m, which is fantastic.”
Meanwhile, EE, the UK’s biggest 4G mobile network provider and part of the BT group, will also introduce a new offer to bring BT Sport to its customers, initially those on 4GEE pay monthly mobile plans, in time for the start of the next football season. BT said details and pricing will be revealed this summer.