This year’s Champions League final could be free to watch on YouTube.
BT Sport’s intention since securing the rights has always been to make one of the biggest games in football free for anybody to watch, and there are suggestions YouTube could be the platform.
The company had to pay £897m for the TV contract, and streaming the final on social media in its first season could boost audience numbers significantly.
An investigation by Inside Sport found that even though the network had screened several free-to-air matches in the group stages, BT Sport was only attracting an average peak audience of just above 200,000 for its Champions League coverage.
But this is not a factor in any potential decision to transmit the Champions League final on a free-to-view platform.
A BT statement said: “We said at the launch that we wanted to make the UEFA Champions League final available for everybody to watch, so any decision on where it is broadcast live in the UK will be made by BT.”
With the competition now approaching its latter stages, and the possibility of a Manchester City-featuring final looking increasingly possible, The Daily Mail report that BT are considering broadcasting the big game on YouTube, as well as their Showcase Freeview service.
If City could make it all the way to the final, this would be great news for any fans who don’t secure a ticket to the match.
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