BT Sport is to show the Europa League and Champions’ League finals on the 18th and 28th May free to air through You Tube.

Viewing figures have been on the lower side of expectations through the first season of a €1.2 Billion contract but this will open up the viewing, especially for the first game involving Liverpool to a massive uplift in numbers.

In Ireland the news is less important because TV3 will be showing the Liverpool game and RTÉ have the rights for the Madrid Derby in the Champions’ League Final.

In terms though of the relationship between rights holders, broadcasters, viewers and sponsors the news is another major shift in a landscape that is changing dramatically.

At yesterday morning’s Sport for Business Future of TV Sport debate there was much talk of the dramatic changes that had taken place in the past six months and the impossible nature of ‘seeing around corners’ to know what the future holds.

The amounts of money now at stake are staggering.  Today we report on a major new deal for French Rugby but soccer remains the king of sports in Europe and the business case for spending vast sums in order to give away free content as opposed to through traditional pay per view methods will lead to considerably more analysis and thought over the coming months and years.

BT Sport is already distributed ‘free’ to broadband subscribers and the revenue to be drawn from that basket of services will always eclipse a single channel return on investment.

No term son the deal with You Tube have been made public but this turns the Google owned network into a major player in terms of live streaming within weeks of Facebook and Twitter making major moves in sport as well.

We live in interesting times…

Sport for Business will be launching a major new series on how brands activate sponsorships later this month when we feature how one of the global sponsors of the Champions’ league is doing just that.