StarHub to show Champions, Europa leagues

Local telco StarHub announced two star signings yesterday, with football's Champions League and Europa League to headline its stable of sports programming.

StarHub will screen the matches on Eurosport HD (Channel 212) for the next three years from the 2015-16 season. It starts with a live telecast of the curtain-raising Uefa Super Cup game between Cham-pions League winners Barcelona and Europa League champions Sevilla next Wednesday.

StarHub's Champions League coverage will begin from the play-off round on Aug 19 while the Europa League broadcasts begin with the group stage on Sept 18.

StarHub said details on pricing and packaging will be announced at a later date. Eurosport HD is part of the telco's Sports Group, currently priced at $19.26 monthly. This marks the return of Europe's premier football competitions to StarHub after a seven-year absence. During this period, rival telco SingTel had won the rights to broadcast the games.

Previously, SingTel bundled the English Premier League (EPL), Champions League and other sports content in a package priced at $34.90 a month. In 2013, the EPL was hived off into a standalone package costing $59.90 a month.

SingTel will still screen the Champions and Europa league games.

StarHub has also announced that subscribers can follow the action on its StarHub TV Anywhere service through laptops, tablets and smartphones.

"We take pride in the breadth of our sports offering and are delighted to offer football fans the prolific strike partnership of the Champions League and Europa League," said Mr Howie Lau, chief marketing officer of StarHub. "Being sports fans at heart ourselves, our priority is to provide a viewing experience befitting of the two tournaments' world-class stature."

This article was first published on Aug 06, 2015.
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