BBC to broadcast its 2006 FIFA World Cup games live on broadband

04 June, 2006 by The_Boss

The BBC has signed an exclusive deal with Infront Sports & Media, the company responsible for the worldwide marketing and sales of the broadcast rights to the 2006 World Cup, which will allow internet users in the UK to watch all the games online.

All of the BBC's TV games will be live and free-to-air with online viewers able to access the games at http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldcup and http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport - viewing of these matches will be restricted to those that live in the UK.

All of the BBC's group games will be available on these sites, as well as all the subsequent games the BBC has in the knockout stages.
The BBC will also have the exclusive rights to England's second round and quarter-final games should they reach that stage.

Furthermore, the BBC has non-exclusive rights to short highlights from every 2006 World Cup game. There will be four-minute clips from all of the 64 matches available on-demand whenever users want to view them.

For the BBC's matches viewers will be able to stream the same coverage as will appear on terrestrial television. This stream will also feature the same commentary as on TV.

Also, in addition to watching the games, online users will be able to hear and read about the latest action – BBC Radio Five Live will have an audio stream from 2006 World Cup game and there will also be live minute-by-minute reports on every match written by BBC journalists.

Director of Sport Roger Mosey 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.
"You can watch the World Cup from the BBC at home on TV – or listen in the car on your radio – and now also see full live coverage on your PC.

"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."

Director of Sports Rights Dominic Coles added: "The BBC has great traditions in sport but we also want to be the most modern provider of content, and our move into broadband reflects this."

The BBC has successfully broadcast football over the internet before, but this is by far its biggest-ever single commitment.
In 2005 the BBC showed the final of the FIFA Club World Championship Toyota Cup Japan between Liverpool and Sao Paulo online to UK internet users.

Similarly the BBC also broadcast online all the interactive streams from Athens 2004 Olympics.

This latest deal follows this week's announcement that the BBC will provide UK broadband users with access to five courts of live tennis action during the 2006 Wimbledon Championships.
Details here
The service will replicate coverage from the BBC's live terrestrial coverage plus the remaining digital interactive feeds.
The BBC already has the broadband rights to the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.

The full list of first-stage group games available online on the BBC (all kick-off times are BST):

Friday 9 June: Germany v Costa Rica, 5.00pm
Saturday 10 June: England v Paraguay, 2.00pm
Sunday 11 June: Serbia & Montenegro v Netherlands, 2.00pm
Mexico v Iran, 5.00pm
Monday 12 June: USA v Czech Republic, 5.00pm
Italy v Ghana, 8.00pm
Tuesday 13 June: South Korea v Togo, 2.00pm
France v Switzerland, 5.00pm
Brazil v Croatia, 8.00pm
Wednesday 14 June: Germany v Poland, 8.00pm
Friday 16 June: Argentina v Serbia & Montenegro, 2.00pm
Saturday 17 June: Portugal v Iran, 2.00pm
Sunday 18 June: France v South Korea, 8.00pm
Monday 19 June: Togo v Switzerland, 2.00pm
Spain v Tunisia, 8.00pm
Thursday 22 June: Czech Republic v Italy, 3.00pm
Ghana v USA, 3.00pm
Japan v Brazil, 8.00pm
Croatia v Australia, 8.00pm
Friday 23 June: Ukraine v Tunisia, 3.00pm
Saudi Arabia v Spain, 3.00pm
Togo v France, 8.00pm
Switzerland v S Korea, 8.00pm