Media company DAZN has decided to broadcast all matches in the UK for free, abandoning the idea of introducing a paywall. DAZN has announced a strategic review of women’s football broadcasting.
Group stage games will initially be available on the YouTube channel before moving to the DAZN app and platforms. The company has confirmed that all UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage matches will be broadcast for free in the UK this season.
The sports media company also announced that most group stage matches will be broadcast free of charge worldwide, with the exception of China, Middle East and North Africa. However, access to some matches on YouTube will be limited in France, Germany and Spain.
DAZN has clarified that all group stage matches, including the fourth round, will be available on its YouTube channel. These matches will later be broadcast on DAZN apps and platforms, with the prospect of moving to a freemium environment. 42 of the 61 matches are scheduled to be shown as part of the platform’s subscription competition, while the remaining 19 matches, including the final, semi-finals and two quarter-finals, will be available for free on YouTube and through the free-to-air (FTA) service.
However, according to a previous Bloomberg report, DAZN is reconsidering its shift toward broadcasting women’s football after acquiring content platform Ata Football, which has US rights to competitions including France’s Division 1 Féminine and Italy’s Serie A Femminile.
Considerations may include the possibility of introducing a paywall at this stage of the partnership. Last year, Veronica Diquattro, the company’s Executive Director of Global Markets, said that DAZN and UEFA felt that “the time is right for the competition to start finding its true commercial value’.
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