Fans could go with the stream for Champions League kick-off
Football fans here could have a silver lining amid the cloud of uncertainty hanging over live Uefa Champions League (UCL) coverage, as the group stage kicks off tomorrow morning.
As pay-TV operators Singtel and StarHub continue to negotiate a deal, football website Goal.com posted links on Sunday to live video streams of all 16 matches this game-week.
According to the website, the streams can be viewed for free.
An article on the website, which was later taken down, indicated the streams will be available in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.
The New Paper reported earlier this month that subscription-based sports streaming service DAZN had won the rights to broadcast three seasons of the UCL and Uefa Europa League (UEL) from this year in the seven South-east Asian countries.
Both Goal.com and DAZN are owned by London-based Perform Group.
Calls by TNP to its Singapore office and queries sent to its United Kingdom headquarters have so far gone unanswered.
Singtel and StarHub told TNP yesterday there were no updates on their negotiations with DAZN. But the pay-TV operators could still pull off a last-minute coup.
Online streaming provider Eleven Sports and national broadcaster Mediacorp were previously able to ink 11th-hour deals to secure broadcasting rights to the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and the 2016 Rio Olympics respectively.
Goal.com streamed the Uefa Super Cup, contested by last season's UCL and UEL winners, in the Asean countries last month.
Juventus fan Farah Bagharib-Kaltz, 38, who caught the Super Cup on Goal.com, said the streaming quality was not bad, comparable to the streams on Serie A Pass, an over-the-top subscription channel launched by rights holders IMG that allows fans here to stream Italian league games legally.
Ms Bagharib-Kaltz told TNP: "If legal streams are available, I think that would always be my first option. You are not stuck on cable TV contracts where you watch only two channels three times a week."
"We don't know yet if (Goal.com streams) will be available for the season or if it is just a one-off, but it looks like this is where the world is moving, which is not a bad thing."
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