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Football

01st Feb 2021

All BT Sport customers can now access innovative Matchday Experience features

JOE

Brought to you by BT Sport

Game changer

Ah, match days. Remember how they used to be? That flutter of excitement as you approached the turnstiles. Queuing for your half-time pie. The screaming yourself hoarse with several thousand others in the glorious chaos that followed your team’s last-gasp winner…

*Sigh*. How we miss those days.

Nothing – and we mean nothing – beats the feeling of watching a football match live and in the flesh. And while none of us appear any closer to knowing when we’ll next get the opportunity to do so, we can at least be thankful that BT Sport can offer us the next best thing – at a time when we need it most.

BT Sport’s constant pursuit of giving football fans the very best viewing experience possible – such as its world-first 8K broadcasts in 2020 – has resulted in their groundbreaking Matchday Experience service now being rolled out to all their customers via the award-winning BT Sport app, across Apple and Android phones and tablets.

Matchday Experience offers several innovative, immersive features which help fans get as close to the beating heart of the action as they possibly can, and is also available in some of their rugby coverage as well as the football.

As part of it comes access to the best-ever version of BT Sport’s pioneering live 360 service, allowing fans to customise their view of a game by accessing a range of cameras not typically seen during a broadcast. With the unrivalled 360 picture quality, fans are also able to zoom in on a specific area of interest on the pitch.

Via split-screen, its unique Watch Together option helps fans stay connected with match day friends as the action unfolds, offering them the chance to watch, see and chat with as many as three other people alongside any BT Sport broadcasts.

Through Match Day Live, fans are kept up to speed with team line-ups, formations and a host of in-game stats, all of which are presented in incredible Augmented Reality form. Real-time graphics – including player position tracking, player names, player speeds and shot velocity trackers – can also be augmented on the pitch during match coverage through the Manager Mode option.

What’s more, in the Stadium Experience service fans can also access behind-the-scenes experiences at leading sporting stadiums, including changing rooms, dugouts, tunnel areas and, depending on the club, trophy rooms.

Launched to a select few BT Sport customers earlier in the season, Match Day Experience can be accessed by all customers from February 2nd onwards. Handily, that’s just in time for this week’s eagerly anticipated round of midweek Premier League fixtures – exclusively live on BT Sport.

All five Matchday Experience features will be available around BT Sport 1’s Saturday lunchtime Premier League matches (Android customers will get their hands on Stadium Experience and Match Day Live on these matches soon).

In addition, all five Matchday Experience features will be available around select midweek Premier League games, starting with BT Sport 1’s exclusively live coverage of Manchester United v Southampton on February 2nd, and, Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea on February 4th.

Feature availability will also be expanded over the coming season, with Manager Mode soon available around select Champions League matches. Selected Matchday Experience will also become available around BT Sport’s coverage of some matches from the Europa League and the Emirates FA Cup, as well as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, and some boxing clashes.