British viewers looking for where to watch Europa League final coverage will find a sharper paywall next week, after TNT Sports decided not to make the Champions League final available free-to-air for the first time since the competition’s rebrand 34 years ago. The Paris Saint-Germain v Arsenal final will be shown on HBO Max alongside TNT Sports.
The move puts the game on a platform available in more than 10 million UK households and, at £4.99 a month for the cheapest subscription, it is still cheaper than many premium sports packages. TNT’s viewing figures for the 2024 and 2025 finals were about 2.5 million, while an average audience of about 1 million watched the final free on discovery+ over each of the past two seasons.
That is a major break from the way British fans have been able to watch Europe’s biggest club final for years. From 2015-16 until 2022-23, BT Sport made the Champions League final available for free on YouTube. Before that, ITV screened it after the European Cup was rebranded as the Champions League in 1992.
Uefa’s commercial team is understood to be happy with TNT’s decision because it believes the move will deliver a bigger audience. The presence of an English club is expected to help too, with Arsenal in the final likely to draw more interest than a matchup without a Premier League side.
But the change has already prompted political criticism. Jon Trickett said all major sporting finals should be free to watch on UK television, and he added that he would like to see the government take action to ensure future events like the Champions League final are accessible to as many people as possible.
The tension is straightforward. TNT had streamed the final for free on discovery+ for the previous two seasons, and Uefa has privately accused the broadcaster of breaking the spirit of a contract that says “best endeavours” must be made to ensure club finals are available for free. Instead, next week’s Paris Saint-Germain v Arsenal match will sit behind HBO Max, even though the service is also available with ads at no extra cost for Sky Sports subscribers and can be accessed as a paid extra via Amazon Prime Video.
For fans, the practical answer is clear: HBO Max is now one of the main places to watch the final in the UK. For the sport’s administrators, the bet is that a paid platform can still widen the audience. For everyone else, the end of free access to the final marks the latest turn in a long shift away from public viewing and toward subscription television.
