PSA: UEFA Champions League Final Won’t Be On SBS This Year


The 2019 UEFA Champions League final – AKA the biggest sporting event of the year – will not be shown on SBS. It won’t be broadcast or streamed by any other free-to-air networks either. Boo-urns.

“Is the UEFA Champions League on SBS this year?” If you’re a European football fan, you’ve probably been pondering this question in the lead-up to the finals. Or maybe you just assumed it would be.

If you were planning to catch the 2019 UEFA Champions League final on SBS, we have some disheartening news. This year, the Australian rights have been stitched up by Optus. That means no live broadcast on SBS, Foxtel, Kayo or anywhere else.

Instead, the only (legal) option this year is to sign up to Optus Sports, which costs $14.99 per month. (You can also get free access on select mobile phone plans.)

“European football has delivered us phenomenal audiences this year that have easily beaten our internal forecasts,” Corin Dimopoulos, Optus’ Head of TV said in a statement.

“The accelerated growth of Optus Sports’ industry-leading app highlights the power of our premium and engaging content and further demonstrates the unique power of streaming on mobile devices that gives viewers a way to consume their favourite content on the go.”

According to Dimopoulos, user-experience will be Optus’ top priority during the broadcast. Hopefully this means we won’t get a repeat of Optus’ FIFA World Cup buffering hell.

In Australia the UEFA Champions League Final kicks off at 5am AEST on Sunday, June 2. As mentioned, it’s possible for some users to get free UEFA access via the Optus Sports app. Click here for instructions on how to watch online.

Get Optus Sport free with this phone plan:

[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/06/how-optus-botched-its-coverage-of-the-world-cup/” thumb=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/06/World-Cup-Optus-410×231.jpg” title=”How Optus Botched Its Coverage Of The World Cup” excerpt=”As Aussie football fans fume over Optus Sport’s unreliable FIFA World Cup streaming from Russia, Optus admits it underestimated the challenges of playing on the world stage. Optus insists it didn’t skimp on the backend infrastructure required to stream World Cup matches to the nation. So what went wrong?”]

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