BT's Champions League viewing figures continue to attract scrutiny
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/...al-for-fa-cup/
"BT faces a far tougher challenge keeping hold of exclusive rights to Uefa’s club competitions in the new year after less than 400,000 people watched its free-to-air coverage of Manchester City’s 4-0 Champions League defeat at Barcelona. A rare airing of Manchester United outside pay-TV drew even fewer eyeballs the following night as the media giant’s hopes of securing another three-year deal arguably suffered their biggest blow yet.
Analysis by Telegraph Sport of the ratings of BT Sport Showcase – which replaced ITV1 as the Champions League’s free-to-air station last year – show they are still shockingly low halfway through this season’s group stage. An average of only 236,666 people have watched the three matches involving English teams on the channel, with Leicester’s historic opening game attracting just 160,000 viewers. That compares to the average of almost five million who watched play‑off round and group-stage fixtures involving Premier League sides on ITV two seasons ago.
Telegraph Sport revealed earlier this year that Showcase ratings in last season’s group stage had been so poor Uefa’s marketing agency, Team, was planning either to demand a better free-to-air offering in its next UK TV contract or simply allow all matches to be put behind a paywall.
A lack of public awareness of BT’s Freeview channel also led to more people watching its subscription-only coverage, a pattern that has continued this season. More than 1.2 million tuned in to the Barca-City game on BT Sport 2, while almost 1.4 million watched United beat Fenerbahce 4-1 in the Europa League on the same channel the following evening, compared with only 381,000 on Showcase."