Digital TV News

England vs Ukraine will be online, not on TV

Monday 5 October, 2009

By Becca Talbot - becca@consumerchoices.co.uk

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It will cost you at least £4.99 if you want to watch the World Cup qualifier between England and Ukraine live online.

England’s World Cup qualifier between Ukraine, which kicks off at 5.15pm on Saturday 10 October, will only be shown online, after ITV, the BBC and Sky decided not to bid for the rights to the match.

Footie fans will have to pay at least £4.99 to watch Capello’s men play the Ukrainian team, and the game will be streamed exclusively on the Perform website.

The match, which is away at Ukraine, was originally going to be aired on Setanta, but following the Irish sports broadcaster’s collapse earlier this year, international agency Kentaro has sold the rights to digital sport specialists Perform.

Peter Silverstone, managing director of Kentaro, told the BBC: “You will watch as you would any other streaming on the internet, like YouTube or the BBC iPlayer - there will be a pop-up player that will show the match in a very good quality stream.”

The match will be available on the dedicated website, and fans will be able watch it by subscribing using PayPal, the electronic payment service.

Viewers that sign-up before midnight on Wednesday 7 October will only pay £4.99 for the game. However, the price will rise to £9.99 for those who subscribe on Thursday and Friday, and £11.99 on Saturday.

Silverstone has reassured fans who are worried that the service may be over-subscribed and the quality reduced by confirming that Kentaro will only allow a maximum of one million users for the match - because this would be the “safe number to stop at to ensure the optimal broadcast.”

The England team has already earnt a place in the 2010 World Cup, after winning all eight of its group stage matches. All previous games have been available to watch on TV, through Sky, ITV and ESPN.

The qualifier will also be shown at 13 different Odeon cinemas around the country, including the cinema at Leicester Square.

Jon Ingram, operations director at Digitalchoices.co.uk, said: “While it’s disappointing that no broadcasters have stepped up to the plate to offer to show the game, it’s encouraging to see that it will be aired online.”

He added: “For those that are considering watching the match, make sure you’re broadband connection is up to it, and download our Complete guide to speeding up your broadband to improve your broadband speeds for streaming the match.”

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