BT to share Europa and Champions League finals for free on YouTube

BT Group will stream its live footage of the Champions League and Uefa Europa League finals on YouTube, allowing UK viewers access even if they do not subscribe to its BT Sport service.

Amid reported criticism from with Uefa about its low viewing figures ahead of the next broadcast right auction, BT unveiled the deal and said both it and the European football governing body were "delighted with what we have achieved in our first year as the broadcaster".

BT's broadcast of Manchester City's semi-final second leg against Real Madrid had an audience peak of 1.7m, which compared to an average peak of 4.4m who watched the play‑off round and group stages on ITV last season.

While BT argued that comparing viewing numbers of a channel that launched this season with ITV, which has been running for decades, was "unfair", this YouTube plan could be seen as an attempt to assuage doubts at UEFA.

Also on Thursday, BT confirmed that its newly acquired EE mobile network will soon launch a new offer to allow customers to add BT Sport, which should make its offer more attractive as well as adding viewer numbers.

Since launch three years ago, BT Sport subscriptions have been taken up by more than 5.2m homes and over 27,000 pubs and bars.

BT’s pay-TV business accounts for 1.2m of these subscribers, with the total audience for BT Sport rising to 5.2m thanks to direct subscriptions through Sky and a wholesale deal with Virgin.

This will be increased thanks to TalkTalk’s announcement earlier this week that BT Sport will be available via its residential TV packages from next season.

BT paid £897m in 2013 for three seasons of exclusive Champions League rights, which was more than double the £400m Sky and ITV had paid for shared rights for the previous three years, which followed the £960m it paid for 42 Premier League games.

But reports last month suggested BT may not be allowed to retain exclusive UK rights for Champions League football after the current three-season deal, with a senior official at Uefa having stated making the deal exclusive was a "mistake".

Uefa's new tendering process for the next rights cycle will start later this year and it is expected that ITV or another terrestrial partner will return, with Sky and BT competing for the other share of the rights.