StarHub, Singtel secure Uefa club competition coverage

Singapore telcos StarHub and Singtel have signed carriage deals with pay-television broadcaster beIN Sports for coverage of the Uefa Champions League and Europa League.

StarHub’s season-long deal comes after neither telco managed to strike a long-term agreement with rights-holder beIN when the 2018-19 Champions League and Europa League group stages began last month.

Johan Buse, chief of StarHub’s consumer business group, said in a statement: “We are grateful for our customers’ understanding and thank them for their patience during this period. We remain committed to ensuring that our content offering provides customers with a wide range of sporting events.”

Singtel broadcast 16 matches from the 2018-19 season’s first game week and earlier stated that it will offer 10 matches from this week’s Champions League fixtures. Singtel today (Monday) said it had reached an agreement with beIN to air live Champions League and Europa League matches on Singtel TV as part of the World Sports+ add-on pack, as well as the Action Trio, Variety and Value packs.

The Uefa competitions will now feature in Singtel’s football portfolio alongside the English Premier League, FA Cup and EFL; Dutch Eredivisie; and Chinese Super League. Goh Seow Eng, managing director of home at the Consumer Singapore division of Singtel, said: “We thank our customers for their patience as we engaged the rights-owner for many months.”