UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League to be free with BT TV

Gary Lineker, Jake Humphrey and Rio Ferdinand to present

BT Sport Europe launched as the new home of top European football

BT Sport Ultra HD channel to launch in August

BT has revealed that all 351 matches from the UEFA Champions League and Europa League next season will be free for customers who take BT TV.

Those customers will be able to receive the full BT Sport Pack for free – comprising BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2, ESPN on BT Sport and the new BT Sport Europe channel, which launches on August 1 as the new home of top European football from the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

BT Broadband customers who choose to watch on their Sky service, via the BT Sport App or on BT Mobile will be able to add the BT Sport Pack for a small charge of £5 a month.

Gary Lineker, Jake Humphrey and Rio Ferdinand will front the live UEFA Champions League coverage. They will join the BT Sport team which includes Paul Scholes, Michael Owen, Steve McManaman and Owen Hargreaves, as well as new signings Steven Gerrard, Harry Redknapp, Glenn Hoddle and Howard Webb.The channel will also broadcast a new ‘Goals’ show, presented by James Richardson, where viewers can tune in on Champions League nights to enjoy all of the news and action across all eight games as it happens.

Keeping its promise to make televised sport more accessible to more people, BT will give its broadband customers the option of receiving BT Sport 1 for free for a third season. This channel will show all 38 live Barclays Premier League matches as well as the Aviva Premiership and SPFL.

John Petter, chief executive of BT Consumer, said: “When we launched BT Sport we promised to make televised football far more accessible and affordable than it has been to date. We have opened the market to millions of new customers and we want to build on that as BT Sport becomes the undisputed home of European football.

“We are of course giving our best offer to existing customers – broadband customers will get the new BT Sport Pack for the heavily discounted price of £5 whilst customers who take broadband and TV from us will get it absolutely free.

“This is a new chapter for European football on TV. BT Sport will show hundreds of live matches throughout the tournament using the very latest technology. Our presenters and experts will also provide the smartest insight and analysis.”

BT’s screening of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches will also see new innovation with regard to how viewers can watch games on BT TV. BT TV will be the only place where customers can watch all of the UEFA Champions League games in HD.BT Sport’s Connected Red Button service will allow BT TV viewers to switch between matches and track the action with a new ‘Goal Alert’ function which will let the viewer know when a goal is scored in any of the games and check all the latest stats.

Customers will also be able to watch every game live online and through the BT Sport app. The app will include a great way to instantly access all of the goals and events from every game, at any time, through a new game timeline feature. This will allow key events to be viewed from multiple camera angles along with a wealth of in-game analysis through new tournament and match homepages.

BT will make some matches available for everyone to watch, whether a subscriber or not, via a new, free-to-air channel on digital TV. Called BT Sport Showcase, this channel will show a minimum of 12 UEFA Champions League matches and 14 UEFA Europa League matches and these will be available to anyone to watch for free. Each participating British team will be shown at least once.

Finally, the company has announced that in August it will also launch the first Ultra HD (4K) channel in Europe, BT Sport Ultra HD, and will also introduce a new BT TV Ultra HD set top box.The Community Shield will be the first broadcast, with other live events shown throughout the season, including selected games from the UEFA Champions League, Barclays Premier League, FA Cup and Aviva Premiership Rugby.

For more information customers should go to www.bt.com/europe or to register interest in BT Sport Ultra HD www.bt.com/ultrahd.

Notes to Editors

How to get BT Sport

• BT will be contacting its BT Sport customers over the coming weeks to advise them about their options and how to get the stunning new content.
• The BT Sport Pack is free for customers who take both BT Broadband and BT TV
• New and existing BT Broadband customers without BT TV can get the BT Sport Pack for £5 a month and watch via their satellite service or via the BT Sport App.
• Customers who do not want to have the BT Sport Pack can opt to have BT Sport Lite, which will remain free with BT Broadband, and they’ll still be able to enjoy exclusively live Barclays Premier League football, the Scottish Professional Football League and Aviva Premiership rugby union. However, most BT Sport customers will be given access to European content via their existing BT Sport Pack
• All BT Sport channels will be available in standard definition and in HD for an extra £4 a month
• The BT Sport channels are currently available for non-BT Broadband customers via satellite for £13.50 per month.

*Existing customers may need to re-contract to qualify for the above prices