UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin confirmed UEFA will launch its own over-the-top streaming service in the next six months. Ceferin made the announcement Thursday morning in Rome after he was re-elected to UEFA’s presidency for another four years.
The live streaming platform will only initially be available in territories outside Europe and North America upon launch according to The Independent, a UK-based online newspaper. The service, which is being provisionally called UEFA TV, will be geo-blocked in certain regions so the organization can focus on growing its audience in developing countries according to Tariq Panja of the New York Times.
Only minor European competitions will initially be streamed on UEFA’s platform according to The Independent. Europe’s governing body of soccer consists of 55 member associations. Both the Champions League and Europa League, UEFA’s two flagship competitions, are unlikely to be be available on the streaming service until 2021, given the league’s existing media rights contracts.
In 2018, UEFA signed a three-year deal with Turner to exclusively stream Champions League and Europa League matches on B/R Live in the U.S. Facebook also signed a three-year deal with UEFA in 2018 for exclusive streaming rights in Latin America to Champions League matches.
SportTechie Takeaway
Since UEFA’s new streaming is expected to only carry minor competitions to start, subscribers will have to wait to stream the Champions League and Europa League. Back in September, UEFA’s marketing director Guy-Laurent Epstein said a new streaming platform would include live women’s soccer matches. UEFA has yet to reveal its pricing plan for its new streaming platform. but perhaps it will follow the pricing models of streaming platforms from North American governing bodies such as the NFL’s Game Pass or MLB.TV.