New sports TV channel to show 10 live football games per week - and it's FREE
A new free-to-air TV channel showing live sports including football will launch on Thursday.
FreeSports will be available on all major platforms on launch day - Freeview, TalkTalk, BT, Sky and FreeSat - except for Virgin Media, reports the Mirror.
Channel bosses say it will give over 10 million UK homes access to a 24/7 sports channel for the first time.
The channel will show live football, rugby league, motorsport, ice hockey and more.
General manager Richard Sweeney said: “We are super excited to be launching this new free-to-air sports channel which marks a first for our business and a first in the UK TV market”.
We believe our new service will be welcomed and enjoyed by UK consumers, many of whom don’t have access to a dedicated live sports channel”.
FreeSports is the sister channel of Premier Sports and is in partnership with global sports management agencies IMG, Infront, Lagardère, MP Silva, and Pitch with Sky Media managing advertising.
It will be on Freeview, TalkTalk and BT on channel 95, on Sky on 424 and FreeSat on 252.
Football
FreeSports will have up to 10 live games per week with exclusive UK coverage of:
Portuguese Primeira League (two games per week)
Belgian Pro League (three games)
Superliga Argentina (two games)
Spanish La Liga 2 (one game)
Irish Airtricity League
It will also show programmes from some of the biggest club TV channels:
Barca TV
Bayern TV
AC Milan TV
Borussia Dortmund TV
That will involve showing the whole game, normally 24 hours afterwards, plus one hour of club news per week.
Coverage on opening weekend also includes England U21 opening Euro qualifier against the Netherlands (kick off 5pm).
Rugby League
Rugby League fans will be able to view select live NRL games, World Cup games in the autumn and UK Championship games.
NRL highlights, the NRL Footy Show and Rugby League Back Chat will also be available free.
Motorsports
Motorsports enthusiasts will be able to watch a huge array of free content including live Australian V8 Supercars including the Bathurst 1000 in October, Swedish Speedway, NASCAR lower series, Monster Jam and Arena Cross.
Ice hockey
The NHL is back on free-to-air UK television for the first time since 2005 with 3 live games a week.
Ice hockey fans will also get to see the IIHF World Championships, 5 Team GB games from Div 1A, The Champions Hockey League and the Swedish Hockey League.
Other sports
The channel will also feature the massive Asian MMA organisation One FC every month and is planning a monthly live boxing show in the UK.
An announcement about live weekly coverage of a UK wrestling promotion is also imminent.
Throughout the year over 25 ATP 250 tennis events will be showcased live along with French horse racing and coverage of show jumping from the FEI including the Nations Cup.
FreeSports aims to announce more live coverage of football, rugby union, basketball, swimming, darts, badminton, pool, squash, ice hockey, volleyball and bowls soon.
