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UEFA Champions League is coming to CBS All Access in 2021
The giants of European soccer are headed to CBS All Access starting in 2021, when CBS snatches the rights to one of the sport's biggest competitions away from Turner. While CBS will broadcast some UEFA Champions League games on its eponymous network (perhaps including the final), all of them will be available to stream in the US on All Access, which starts at $6/month.
'FIFA 19' gets a UEFA eChampions League esports tournament
Earlier this year, EA scored a major coup by licensing the UEFA Champions League for FIFA 19 after the European soccer competition ended its partnership with Konami and PES. To no one's surprise, it's now giving the tournament the eSports treatment. The "eChampions League" will thus form another cog in the FIFA Global Series en route to the eWorld Cup 2019 next summer.
Facebook will stream live Champions League matches in Latin America
Facebook's soccer (aka football) ambitions aren't stopping with July's Premier League deal. The social network has secured the rights to stream live Champions League matches for free in Latin America between 2018 and 2021. It's not as sweeping as the earlier arrangement, as Facebook will only broadcast 32 games per season. However, the company will share highlights and magazine programming every match week.
The end of Konami’s Champions League partnership isn’t great for PES
The battle between the Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) and FIFA franchises has raged on for years over which gave the superior soccer/football experience. But Konami's deal with the UEFA for a virtual Champions League mode in its games gave PES an edge over its rival. So today's announcement that the soccer organization is ending its 10-year partnership with Konami might be dire news for future PES titles.
Turner's live sports streaming service launches April 7th
Turner's long-in-the-making live sports service is here... almost. The broadcaster has announced that its Bleacher Report Live service will debut April 7th in a free preview mode, with "flexible" pricing when you have to start paying in the summer. It'll present live sports in a Facebook-style home feed, with personalization that aggregates content based on your tastes. The sports selection won't suit everyone's tastes (you may want to consider ESPN+), but there are some reasons you'd want to consider BR Live over other options.
Champions League matches are coming to Facebook
Facebook can add another feather to its live-sports streaming cap: UEFA Champions League soccer (football to the rest of the world) matches. Reuters reports that thanks to a partnership with Fox Sports, the 2017-18 season will be watchable on Zuckerberg's social network. Champions League went from being one of the most-watched competition on earth to the exact opposite thanks to several countries blocking access via paywalls. Jerks. Anyhow, if you can't access the League via YouTube in your area, this should fix that.
Fox Sports is airing the Champions League final in VR
Samsung just announced that it's adding UFC fights and other events to its new immersive programming lineup. It's the latest company to start broadcasting sports events in VR, but it's far from the first. Fox Sports has been uploading virtual reality coverage of big-name events for years, most recently livestreaming this year's Super Bowl. But the network is airing in VR a match that folks outside the US might consider just as massive: This Saturday's UEFA Champions League final between Real Madrid and Juventus.
Police will scan every fan's face at the Champions League final
If you're headed to the UEFA Champions League final in Cardiff on June 3rd, you might just be part of a massive experiment in security -- and a privacy uproar. South Wales Police are conducting a face recognition trial that could scan every one of the 170,000 visitors expected to show up in the city for the match, whether or not they're heading to the stadium. Cameras around both the stadium and Cardiff's main train station will compare faces against a police database of 500,000 people of interest. If there's a match, police will get a heads-up that could help them stop a terrorist or frequent hooligan.
Sky to tweet near real-time video highlights from soccer matches
Seeing a soccer game unfold in bursts of 140 characters or less is better than nothing when out of TV range, but a new deal between Twitter and Sky means you won't have to wait to gawp at goals. Starting with the three matches being played today, Sky will begin embedding highlight clips from UEFA Champions League games, such as goals and interviews, in tweets from some of the broadcaster's accounts. Mimicking similar sports-focused arrangements Twitter has in the US, the Sky deal will allow fans and non-fans alike (through Promoted Tweets) to keep up with every bicycle kick and penalty in almost real-time. There's a catch, though: every clip includes an advert for Sky's Now TV sport and movie streaming service, so footie fans best prepare to have that brand baked into your brain 'til you wake up one morning with a Now TV box and no recollection of buying it.
Sky Sports for iPad update brings second screen to UEFA Champions League, Ryder Cup
When you're rooting for your team, one screen is never enough. Sky Sports knows this, and knows it quite well it seems. Hence why the UK Satellite giant is rolling out more of it via its iPad app. Now, as promised, the UEFA Champions League and 2012 Ryder Cup get in on the action. As you would imagine, the update lets users dive into a bunch of stats, game info, live tweets and even allows watching multiple games split-screen stylee. The updated app is available now, in plenty of time for the build up, leaving you free to stock up on snacks and refreshments.
Football fans score additional content in Sky Sports for iPad update
The app devs over at Sky Sports are having a busy year, and after improving their iPad offering for the F1 season, they're back with a "second screen" update for football (soccer) fans. Just in time for the start of the UK Premier League season, the new Football Match Centre adds a content bar alongside your chosen stream showing team and player info, in-depth stats of the match in progress and a hand-picked Twitter feed for related musings. You might think the devs deserve a break, but sadly there's no time -- next on the agenda is a similar update for the Champions League tournament, then they're bringing the second screen to golf fans before the Ryder Cup starts next month.
DirecTV launches Fox Soccer Channel HD tomorrow
Having already added Gol TV HD last week, DirecTV is making fans of the other football even happier now that it's launching Fox Soccer Channel HD tomorrow. Between those two and Fox Soccer Plus matches in HD the satellite broadcaster is claiming over 320 live matches on deck for this season. From UEFA Champions league coverage later this month to La Liga and UEFA Europa League it's all there, along with a Soccer Mix channel to tune into up to 8 games in SD & HD simultaneously. FSC HD goes live on channel 619 tomorrow, while DirecTV's exclusive feeds of some tournament action will be on channels 480-489
UEFA Champions League demo and cricket
Up on the XBLM today is a demo for UEFA Champions League 2006-2007. This (for those of you who don't know) is the sport that the US calls soccer, but we're certain the Union of European Football Associations calls it ... football. Not a big deal, other than the demo's actual size which Major Nelson lists at 1.32MB. We're thinking it's more around the 1.32GB size, otherwise we'd be getting a demo flashing the UEFA logo on the screen. Also up for download for our Australian and New Zealand readers is some Ricky Cricket, and our UK and Ireland friends can download their Brian Cricket. See, everyone gets a demo today, whether its cricket, football, or soccer.
