Jon Trickett Presses Free Access as Europa League Final Tv Shifts to HBO Max
UEFA expects far higher UK viewing figures for next week’s Champions League final even as TNT Sports ends free access for the first time in 34 years. The europa league final tv debate has been pulled into the same wider shift, with the Paris Saint-Germain v Arsenal final moving to HBO Max and TNT Sports.
TNT Sports will not make the final free-to-air after two seasons in which about 1 million people watched it free on discovery+. The cheapest HBO Max subscription costs £4.99 a month, and the service is available in more than 10 million UK households.
Trickett Pushes Free Finals
Jon Trickett, the Labour MP, wrote on X that “All major sporting finals should be free to watch on UK television” and added, “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 argument lands just as the competition moves behind a paid platform in the UK.
That change ends the recent practice of free streaming on discovery+, which TNT Sports used alongside its main channel coverage. Before that, the UK rights holder made the Champions League final free on YouTube from 2015-16 until 2022-23, and ITV carried it before the European Cup was rebranded as the Champions League in 1992.
HBO Max Reaches More Homes
The scale of the audience is the point UEFA appears to be leaning on. TNT’s viewing figures for the 2024 and 2025 finals were about 2.5 million, and UEFA’s commercial team is understood to be happy with TNT’s decision because it believes the move will deliver a bigger audience.
HBO Max launched in the UK in March and has attracted millions of subscribers since then. It is also available with ads at no extra cost for Sky Sports subscribers, while Amazon Prime Video offers it as a paid extra.
For viewers, the practical change is simple: the final is on HBO Max, with TNT Sports carrying it there as well, and the cheapest route costs £4.99 a month. The scale of that paid reach is now central to the audience test UEFA expects to win next week.
