Facebook To Stream Live Champions League Matches Through Partnership With Fox Sports

Facebook will stream "more than a dozen matches" from the UEFA Champions League, "the highest-profile event to join the small but growing lineup of live sports programming," according to Soshnick & Shaw of BLOOMBERG. Starting in September, the social network will show live Champions League matches in the U.S. "through a partnership with Fox Sports." The deal with the sports division of 21st Century Fox includes doubleheaders during the group stage, "four Round of 16 games and four quarterfinal matches." Neither company would disclose the financial terms of their agreement. The games are part of Facebook's strategy to "entice advertisers to spend more money at a higher rate." It has not sold advertising against the Champions League matches, "but it could start by the time they begin" (BLOOMBERG, 6/27).