Jon Trickett Urges Free Access as Uefa Expects Higher Final Viewership — Bbc Sports
sports can report that Uefa expects far higher UK viewing figures for next week’s Champions League final even though TNT Sports will not make it free-to-air. The 2025 final between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal will be shown on TNT Sports and HBO Max, ending the recent free-stream option for UK viewers.
Trickett On UK Access
Jon Trickett said on X: “All major sporting finals should be free to watch on UK television.” He also wrote: “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.”
That view lands against a clear shift in access. TNT is streaming the game on HBO Max after two years of showing the final for free on discovery+ alongside its main channel coverage, and this will be the first time since the competition was rebranded 34 years ago that the final will not be available free-to-air.
HBO Max And TNT
HBO Max is available in more than 10 million UK households, and the cheapest subscription costs £4.99 a month. TNT’s viewing figures for the 2024 and 2025 finals were about 2.5 million, while an average audience of about 1 million watched the Champions League final for free on discovery+ over each of the past two seasons.
Those numbers explain why Uefa’s commercial team is understood to be happy with TNT’s decision, even as some at Uefa have privately accused TNT of breaking the spirit of a contract that says “best endeavours” must be made to ensure its club finals are available for free. The final had also been free on YouTube through the UK rights holder BT Sport from 2015-16 until 2022-23, and before that it was screened by ITV after the European Cup was rebranded as the Champions League in 1992.
Paris Saint-Germain Arsenal
For viewers, the practical shift is simple: the match is on TNT Sports and HBO Max, not on a free-to-air platform. Uefa expects the audience to rise anyway next week, with the fixture itself — Paris Saint-Germain v Arsenal — likely to draw the widest attention around a final that has moved steadily behind paid access.
