Sky strikes Champions League partnership with Twitter

UK pay-television broadcaster BSkyB has agreed a deal with social networking website Twitter to share video highlights from Uefa Champions League football games in real time, according to the Financial Times.

The newspaper said the agreement will commence today with three Champions League games including Barcelona against AC Milan.

However, late on Tuesday afternoon it remained unclear how the deal had been agreed considering that Sky only has rights for the Champions League in the UK and Twitter cannot be geo-blocked.

Under the terms of the reported deal, the Sky Sports Twitter account will share highlights including instant replays of the best goals and post-match interviews.

The project aims to promote Sky’s sports channels and its internet service Now TV, with the broadcaster reported to be paying Twitter an undisclosed fee to promote its tweets across the social media platform.

“We know that lots of people want access to great Sky Sports content but would rather dip in and out rather than having a full subscription,” Gidon Katz, director of Now TV, said. “Sharing Uefa Champions League clips in real-time on social platforms helps us to highlight the benefits of instant, pay-as-you-go access to Sky Sports via Now TV.”