Uefa Sees Bigger Audience as Champions League Final Moves to HBO Max — Europa Conference League Final
Uefa expects far higher UK viewing figures for next week’s Champions League final, even though TNT Sport will not show the europa conference league final’s European cousin free-to-air in the UK. Paris Saint-Germain v Arsenal will instead stream on HBO Max alongside TNT Sports.
HBO Max and TNT Sports
The change gives viewers one main route: HBO Max, where the cheapest subscription costs £4.99 a month. HBO Max is available in more than 10 million UK households, and it is also offered with ads at no extra cost for Sky Sports subscribers.
That wider reach is the reason some at Uefa are comfortable with the move. Its commercial team is understood to be happy with TNT’s decision because it believes the paid distribution can still deliver a bigger audience than the free options used in recent years.
Jon Trickett on Access
Jon Trickett set out the political reaction in one post on X: “All major sporting finals should be free to watch on UK television”. He 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.”
The Labour MP’s comments land as TNT makes a different call from the one that shaped the last two finals. Over the past two seasons, an average audience of about 1 million watched the showpiece for free on TNT’s streaming service, discovery+.
TNT’s Audience Numbers
TNT’s overall figures were much larger in 2024 and 2025, when about 2.5 million watched each final. This year’s match also carries a lift that did not exist in the previous two finals: an English club is in it for the first time in three years.
That matters because next week’s final pits Paris Saint-Germain against Arsenal, and the UK audience should be watching through a different setup than the one used when BT Sport held the rights. From 2015-16 until 2022-23, the final was free on YouTube through the UK rights holder; before that, ITV carried it after the European Cup was renamed the Champions League in 1992.
The shift to HBO Max also follows the platform’s launch in the UK in March. It has attracted millions of subscribers since then, and TNT has chosen to use that paid route rather than return the final to a free stream.
For UK viewers, the practical choice is simple: pay for HBO Max, use it through Sky Sports at no extra cost if eligible, or access it as a paid extra via Amazon Prime Video. The final’s audience will now test whether a subscription-first approach can outdraw the free coverage British fans had for much of the modern Champions League era.
