BBC to broadcast World Cup matches via broadband

by Alex Donohue, Brand Republic 01-Jun-06, 14:15

LONDON - The BBC has agreed a deal with broadcast rights firm Infront Sports & Media to allow UK viewers to watch all of its World Cup coverage live on broadband free of charge.

The corporation's exclusive broadband coverage of all of the tournament's group games will be available through its World Cup homepage, as well as any subsequent England second-round matches, should Sven Goran Eriksson's men progress.

BBC Online will also have non-exclusive rights to screen four-minute highlights of all 64 World Cup matches on-demand. The online commentary and coverage will be the same as terrestrial, which will cater to office workers wishing to keep up with the latest scores in Germany.

The move follows decision earlier this week to show live tennis from Wimbledon via the BBC's tournament homepage, as well as three-minute highlight packages from each day's play.

The BBC's Wimbledon service will also include digital interactive feeds, latest scores and results, and a comprehensive news section.

Roger Mosey, the BBC's director of sport, said: "Our audiences now expect to get BBC Sport on television, on radio and online -- and the World Cup on broadband is our biggest commitment yet to bringing people major events where and when they want them.

"We know a lot of online viewing is done in the office, so we suspect this will allow people both to do their job and to keep up with the very latest action from Germany."

The corporation has broadcast live sport over the internet before, at the Athens Olympics in 2004, and more recently for the finals of Fifa Club World Championship in December 2005, but this is by far its biggest online single tournament commitment to date.

England begin their World Cup campaign against Paraguay on June 10.

If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the Forum.