BT is inviting football fans to register interest in its new BT Sport Europe channel which is set to become the new home of the UEFA Champions League.
The broadband giant and pay-TV operator has paid £900m to cover the contest for three years from the start of the 2015/16 season. Its deal also includes rights to the Europa League which BT Sport has covered since launch.
Previous rights holders Sky and ITV ended their association with the Champions League on Saturday when they screened Barcelona’s triumph over Juventus at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.
Within seconds of the final whistle blowing, BT unveiled new ads starring Jose Mourinho, Gareth Bale and Didier Drogba and launched a webpage soliciting sign-ups from interested fans.
Pricing for the channel, which is expected to be supported by months of high-profile advertising, will be announced at a media event on Tuesday.
Expectations are that BT will continue to offer its current BT Sport 1 and 2 channels, which include coverage of the Premier League, Aviva Rugby and Women’s Tennis, free to broadband customers.
However fans wanting to watch the broadcaster’s Champions and Europa League coverage are likely to have to pay around £5 per month.
Tuesday is also expected to see official confirmation of a new 4K channel, which will be available to via fibre broadband to users with a BT supplied YouView set top box, and the addition of Gary Lineker to its presenting line-up.
BT is also likely to confirm plans for a new free to air channel which will allow any home with a Freeview set top box or TV to watch a selection of “top matches” and the finals for both competitions without subscribing to BT’s channels or broadband.
