Optus kicks off new season with Champions League win

Optus has added the Champions League and Europa League to its portfolio of soccer content.

Sergio Ramos lifts the Champions League trophy as Real Madrid victory over Liverpool in the final last May in Kiev. Picture: Getty Images

The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia may have been a bust for Optus but the telco isn’t backing away from locking in more premium football content, with the UEFA Champions League now part of its portfolio.

Watching the Champions League, along with the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Super Cup, will require fans to sign up to the Optus Sports app for access. A prospect that’s likely to leave some apprehensive given the poor showing from the telco during the World Cup.

Optus’s World Cup coverage ran into trouble from almost the first whistle in Russia in June, with streaming glitches rendering the Optus Sports app useless. The telco had to eventually agree to let SBS show all the World Cup for free, booking a multimillion-dollar loss in the process as well.

The ongoing sub-licensing arrangement between Optus and SBS will see the public broadcaster show some Champions League matches on free-to-air. The Optus Sport app is also free for all consumers until August 31, after which non-Optus customers will have to pay a monthly fee of $15.

The app is expected to get a serious post-World Cup workout next weekend as the 2019 English Premier League (EPL) season kicks off. In May, Optus extended its exclusive deal to broadcast EPL in Australia for another three years, with the telco the only source of full coverage until 2022.

Optus’s mobile network also suffered a minor outage yesterday, leaving users in Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania, Brisbane and Adelaide unable to make or receive calls. While the disruption was relatively short-lived it will make football fans anxious as another piece of football content disappears from Foxtel.

The deal between Optus and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) will see the telco hold the broadcast rights for three years, with coverage to start later this month.

Optus Sport will show every Champions League match live, starting with the qualifying playoffs this month, followed by all group stage matches live, starting next month and continuing through until the final in 2019.

Optus Sport will also cover the UEFA Super Cup on August 16 (August 17 in Australia) between the winners of last season’s Europa League, Atletico Madrid, and the winners of the Champions League, Real Madrid.

Taking the UEFA Champions League, the premier international club competition in the world, off the hands of beIN sports is the latest sign of Optus banking on its portfolio of media assets to build market share.

While its plan to use the World Cup to encourage more consumers to sign up to Optus Sports may not have paid dividends for the telco, it’s still sticking with the script.

A successful season of European football could potentially see Optus pursue the broadcast rights for the Spanish La Liga and the German Bundesliga.

Optus’s managing director, marketing and product Ben White said that the telco remains committed to delivering elite international football and exclusive content for customers.

“Adding these tournaments and elite football matches to Optus Sport provides our customers with more than double the live premium football content compared to this time last year,” he said.