BT has confirmed they will be streaming the Europa and Champions League final on YouTube for free this month.
The broadcaster are already showing the finals on their freeview channel BT Sport Showcase. The move is seen as an attempt to attract more viewers as the Europa and Champions League saw a huge drop in viewership, since moving from ITV and Sky Sports, to BT Sport. BT Sport bid £897 million to win the rights to show Europe’s elite football competitions.
BT won the bid two and half years ago, after promising to show some matches for free to gain the widest possible audience. Inside Sport revealed the peak average of viewers for Champions League games was just at 200,000. ITV saw a huge peak average of 4.4 million viewers in their last year of broadcasting Champions League football, in the 2014-15 season.
First up will be the Europa League final on May 18th, with Liverpool and Sevilla clashing in Basel, Switzerland. The Champions League Final will be between La Liga and city rivals, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid. The Spanish giants will face-off in Milan on May 28th.
You’ll of course be able to see the finals on the BT Sport YouTube channel.
