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UEFA fume as TNT make unprecedented Champions League final decision
Fans will not be able to watch the Champions League final featuring Arsenal for free
TNT Sports have made the unprecedented decision not to broadcast the Champions League final for free in the UK. The broadcaster have reportedly irritated UEFA by opting to charge fans to watch all three European finals despite English clubs chasing a clean sweep of titles.
Arsenal will look to upset holders Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final on May 30 in Budapest. The Gunners are aiming to win Europe's elite competition for the first time ever.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa face Freiburg in the Europa League final on Wednesday as they seek a first major trophy since 1996. Seven days later, Crystal Palace meet Rayo Vallecano in the Conference League final as they look to win a first European trophy in their history.
But the Guardian report that none of these fixtures will be available for fans to view on free-to-air television in the UK. It will be the first time since the Champions League's modern rebrand 34 years ago that viewers in Britain won't be able to watch the final without paying for a subscription.
Champions League finals were previously broadcast live on ITV, which had exclusive rights from the competition’s launch, as the rebranded European Cup, in 1992 until 2003, then joint rights with Sky Sports until 2015.
The channel was then rebranded to TNT Sports, which made them available for free for customers who registered with its sister streaming service discovery+ since taking over the contract two years ago.
TNT Sports is no longer available on discovery+, however, since WBD launched HBO Max in the UK in March. And from 2027, the rightsholder will change again with Paramount securing a four-year contract to show games in the UK.
The channel's decision not to show the European finals for free is reportedly the source of some angst at UEFA. The Guardian report that the move breaks the spirit of a contract that states "best endeavours" should be made to ensure the finals are available for free.
TNT Sports and WBD have been approached for comment.
Fans will not be able to watch the Champions League final featuring Arsenal for free
TNT Sports have made the unprecedented decision not to broadcast the Champions League final for free in the UK. The broadcaster have reportedly irritated UEFA by opting to charge fans to watch all three European finals despite English clubs chasing a clean sweep of titles.
Arsenal will look to upset holders Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final on May 30 in Budapest. The Gunners are aiming to win Europe's elite competition for the first time ever.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa face Freiburg in the Europa League final on Wednesday as they seek a first major trophy since 1996. Seven days later, Crystal Palace meet Rayo Vallecano in the Conference League final as they look to win a first European trophy in their history.
But the Guardian report that none of these fixtures will be available for fans to view on free-to-air television in the UK. It will be the first time since the Champions League's modern rebrand 34 years ago that viewers in Britain won't be able to watch the final without paying for a subscription.
Champions League finals were previously broadcast live on ITV, which had exclusive rights from the competition’s launch, as the rebranded European Cup, in 1992 until 2003, then joint rights with Sky Sports until 2015.
The channel was then rebranded to TNT Sports, which made them available for free for customers who registered with its sister streaming service discovery+ since taking over the contract two years ago.
TNT Sports is no longer available on discovery+, however, since WBD launched HBO Max in the UK in March. And from 2027, the rightsholder will change again with Paramount securing a four-year contract to show games in the UK.
The channel's decision not to show the European finals for free is reportedly the source of some angst at UEFA. The Guardian report that the move breaks the spirit of a contract that states "best endeavours" should be made to ensure the finals are available for free.
TNT Sports and WBD have been approached for comment.
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Replies: 23
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Why are they fuming ? , they must have signed the contract agreeing to it
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And they locking subscribers into years subscribtion
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easy enough to find a free stream online. same for the golf including the Ryder Cup, The Masters and The Open
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Get ya sticks ready...
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Just driving viewers to firesticks.
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It's just because TNT lost the rights to the CL after next season, so they're lashing out, want people to subscribe now.
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TNT over one minute behind live, even a shady livestream could beat that.
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ch LG final hasn't been free to air for million of people for over 25yrs, Facebook/YouTube where BT/sky showed it wasnt free to air to millions of older /less tech savy people, and basically not much difference to those who,,l be watching by firestick
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Firesticks have given the people back their game.
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And the Police will be knocking on your door soon to take the game back from you
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How many people have been prosecuted for watching pirate TV?
Very close to zero. Have you ever wondered why that is? To be taken to court the enforcers need to observe someone watching a pirate stream. So unless people are watching it in their front gardens... |
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don't know how it works, just read they're coming after firestick users, probably via tracing ip address from the sellers end who they have been prosecuting.
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Owning a firestick is not a criminal offence. Neither is having an IPTV app.
If ISPs want to grass people up they'll find their customers soon migrate to Starlink. |
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I've watched loads of dodgy streams, I'm not worried
about prosecution, and I've not paid a penny. Some of the games I feel I should have been paid to watch. |
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The people who pirate sports know their technology. They easily stay ahead of the law.
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not that long ago. ITV showed their last final in 2016 I think. Also didn't BT Sport make their channel available on freeview for the final a couple of times?. I remember it wasn't on at all late 80s during the Heysel ban after that dire Steau v Barca game.
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Was there no challenge at the time on English clubs being banned from Europe for 5 years? no legal challenge or anything?
They'd never do that now, too much money from UK broadcasting rights. |
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The ban was indefinite. There was no challenge to it's legitimacy (the British government were fine with it from what I recall) but the FA did petition for it to be ended on the 'we've done our time' basis.
I vaguely remember it seemed possible English clubs might return in 1988 but then fans kicked off in Germany at the Euros. |
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To me it devalued the winners during that period, English clubs had won 7 of the previous 9 European Cups (now CL's), they were the strongest during that era and maybe the hooliganism gave UEFA an excuse to stop that dominance, I'm not sure the likes of Steaua Bucharest, Red Star Belgrade and Eindhoven would have won if English clubs were there. Took years after the ban for English clubs to catch back up. Can only imagine how disappointed they all are that there are currently 3 English clubs in their 3 finals.
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Many of our stars left our clubs to play abroad and (obviously) in Europe. We lost Hoddle and Waddle in that period. Devastated a few clubs that's for sure but we understood.
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Such good singers, a huge loss.
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