Jon Trickett Urges Free Access as Bbcsport Final Goes Paywall
bbcsport faces a new UK access test next week as TNT Sport will not make the Champions League final free-to-air for the first time since the competition’s rebrand 34 years ago. Uefa still expects viewing figures to rise for Paris Saint-Germain v Arsenal, with an English club in the final for the first time in three years.
Jon Trickett Takes Aim
Jon Trickett wrote on X that "All major sporting finals should be free to watch on UK television" and said, "I’d like to see the government take action to ensure future events like the Champions League final are accessible to as many people as possible." His intervention lands as the match moves behind a paywall in the UK, changing how one of football’s biggest one-off games will be reached by casual viewers.
TNT Sport Changes Course
TNT Sport has opted to stream the final on HBO Max, which charges £4.99 a month for the cheapest subscription. HBO Max is available in more than 10 million UK households and at no extra cost for Sky Sports and Amazon Prime customers.
That is the break from recent finals. An average audience of about 1 million watched the Champions League final for free on discovery+ over each of the past two seasons, while TNT’s viewing figures for the 2024 and 2025 finals were about 2.5 million. From 2015-16 until the 2022-23 season, the final was free on YouTube through the UK rights holder, and before that ITV showed it from 1992, when the European Cup became the Champions League.
Uefa Betting On Reach
Uefa’s commercial team is understood to be happy with TNT’s decision because it believes the move will deliver a bigger audience. The presence of an English club should lift interest a week on Saturday, and that is the practical reason the governing body expects far higher UK viewing figures even without free-to-air coverage.
For viewers, the choice is now narrower: pay £4.99 a month for the HBO route, use an existing Sky Sports or Amazon Prime tie-in, or miss the final on free-to-air television. The game’s reach is still projected to grow, but the way people get to it has shifted sharply.
