BT Sport has confirmed that the Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid at the San Siro on 28 May will be shown live on BT Sport’s YouTube channel free of charge.

Excited to announce the @ChampionsLeague and @EuropaLeague finals will be free on YouTube ???? https://t.co/n0e3wJdE0f https://t.co/j1Ro9VPm6t

— BT Sport Football (@btsportfootball) May 12, 2016

With rumours floating around the internet for a number of weeks, it’s not completely unexpected considering the need for BT to increase its viewership for the Champions League flagship event.

The deal will also include the Europa League final which will take place in Basel next Wednesday between Liverpool and Sevilla, however, the YouTube streams will only be available in the UK.

Reports that UEFA are unhappy with the small viewing numbers attracted by BT Sport have heaped pressure on the broadcaster, which is in its first year of broadcasting the competition. Statistics recovered from the Telegraph earlier in the year suggested that BT Sport’s coverage attracted an average audience of just over 200,000 which is dwarfed by ITV’s average audience numbers of over 4.4 million when they held the Champions League broadcast rights

The news is a win for most of those involved (except of course BT) including fans not willing to fork out an extra £20 a month for BT’s sports channels and may be a little bit of a ‘rub your hands together moment’ for ITV, who lost the rights to the Champions League to BT Sport’s £897 million bid last year.

With broadcasters feeling under increased pressure to address the trend that has seen their product lose substantial ground to the internet, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if a new digital subscription-type arrangement surfaced for the competition next season.

While it is a slight bump in the road for BT Sport, it continues to be one of the most rapidly growing sports networks on television.

Great news, @btsportfootball are streaming both the @ChampionsLeague and @EuropaLeague live on @YouTube https://t.co/c16aJyTQfE ????

— Glenn Hoddle (@GlennHoddle) May 12, 2016

BT have confirmed that both the Champions League and Europa League finals will be shown live on YouTube. pic.twitter.com/5WQKyfBzf9

— Squawka News (@SquawkaNews) May 12, 2016

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