A multi-billion dollar deal in the US could signal more sport to watch for free in the UK
Crystal Palace’s first European fixture for 27 years will be shown live on free-to-air television, The i Paper understands.
Palace, who last played in Europe as part of the Intertoto Cup in 1998, will face Norway’s Fredrikstad in the first leg of a Conference League play-off on Thursday 21 August, kicking off at 8pm live on 5.
The channel is understood to have picked up the rights to show the match, which is not part of TNT’s wider Uefa rights package, for what industry sources say is a “low six-figure sum”.
And Palace’s away leg, due to be played at 5pm on 28 August, will also be shown on 5.
The i Paper reported earlier this month that 5 will show weekly NFL games in Sunday’s primetime slot throughout the upcoming season, and this appears to be a continuation of this opportunistic approach to sports rights.
Palace vs Fredrikstad is the second time this summer that the channel, which is free to any household in the UK with a TV licence to watch or stream, has shown live football after it broadcast some of Chelsea and Manchester City’s Club World Cup matches.
The new-look tournament struggled to sell global TV rights initially but, after a sublicense deal from DAZN, viewing figures on 5 hit surprise highs of more than 2 million for primetime matches and averages of around 1.5 million viewers.
Billions of dollars spent on rights
The UK network recently received a boost when the US merger between parent company Paramount and content giant Skydance was completed, a deal worth around $8bn (£5.9bn).
The new owners then splashed another $7.7bn (£5.67bn) on an eight-year deal to show the UFC, and have signalled that sports rights will be a major part of their expansionary plans – in America and worldwide, including the UK.
Your next read
David Ellison, chief executive of the newly formed Paramount Skydance, promised employees he wanted to grow “dynamic partnerships with the world’s premier sports leagues – including the NFL and Uefa”.
He added: “We are committed to increasing investment in premium, exclusive content because we understand that exceptional storytelling is the single biggest driver of subscriber growth and loyalty.
“In particular, sports serve as a powerful engine for deep audience engagement.”