EE unveils Match Day Experience on BT Sport App
October 15, 2020
EE has announced Match Day Experience features on the BT Sport app, which will be inclusive for new customers taking the Full Works iPhone plan with the new 5G iPhone.
Through a set of new BT Sport App features that make the most of the UK’s number one 5G network, and optimised for the iPhone 12’s functionality, EE says that Match Day Experience will “provide customers with a revolutionary new way to watch sport”.
At launch, the full set of Match Day Experience features will be available for BT Sport’s live Saturday lunchtime Premier League match. Selected features will also be available for additional BT Sport programming including the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, the Emirates FA Cup, Gallagher Premiership Rugby, with availability expanding throughout the season.
Match Day Experience features include:
- Watch Together – a new social innovation, Watch Together allows fans to watch, see and chat with three other friends, alongside any BT Sport broadcast, thanks to a split-screen interface. EE 5G iPhone 12 customers with the Full Works plan can create their own Watch Together rooms and invite any other BT Sport customer to join them to create a unique match viewing experience. For those EE customers who take out the large screen access add-on, Watch Together can now be enjoyed on their living room television by pairing their mobile phone with an Apple TV
- 360 – watch live action from a range of sporting events in BT Sport’s 360 service. BT Sport was the first in the world to offer live sports in 360 and the enhanced Match Day Experience provides picture quality never seen before, without the experience of buffering thanks to 5G. A new “pinch and zoom” functionality enables fans to home in on their desired areas of interest to make customers feel like they are at the ground. 360 offers viewers the chance to select different camera angles and viewpoints, not normally seen in broadcast. 360 provides a completely different viewing experience from the usual fixed-camera positions, allowing viewers to look around in a 360-degrees.
- Match Day Live – EE 5G customers can access team line-ups, formations and in-game stats brought to life through stunning Augmented Reality from wherever they are watching the action.
- Stadium Experience – Customers can use an Augmented Reality doorway in the BT Sport app to be transported from wherever they are into exclusive behind the scenes experiences of leading football teams and sporting stadiums. Depending on the club and stadium, these include areas such as dressing rooms, dugouts, trophy rooms and tunnel areas.
- Dolby Atmos – Launching later this season for select events, Dolby Atmos sound brings the game to life in full multi-dimensional audio, so customers can get the stadium experience on the go.
- Manager Mode – EE customers will have the choice of adding real-time graphics as part of the match coverage augmented on the pitch. The feature provides informative and insightful stats, such as a mini-map tracking the positions of all players for a tactical viewpoint, plus player names, player speeds and more such as tracers marking the path of shots.
Marc Allera, Chief Executive, BT’s consumer division, said: “We continually look for ways to offer customers new and innovative services, allowing them to make the most from their smartphone. Our new Match Day Experience features will provide an amazing array of ways to enhance their sports viewing – over the UK’s number one network for 5G. They can now watch the action live with their mates thanks to integrated video chat. Get closer to the game with the best ever 360° views, and view real-time stats and graphics projected on the pitch and around each player with Manager Mode. What’s more – only with us can they also get up-close and personal, with advanced Match Day Live AR features – ensuring that when they’re out and about, they can always get the best seats in the house.”
Rio Ferdinand, BT Sport pundit and former England captain, added: “At this moment of social distancing and crowd-less stadia, Match Day Experience gets fans closer than ever to the sports they love. The features build on what is already the best sports App anywhere and will enable EE customers to enjoy the most immersive sports broadcasts seen to date.”
Customers taking out an exclusive new EE Full Works Plan for iPhone between October 16th 2020 to January 15th 2021 will enjoy 24 months of the BT Sport App, with new Match Day Experience features, as part of their plan. EE Full Works customers also receive access to Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, as well as uncapped and unlimited mobile data.
For customers wanting details on Match Day Experience, further information will be available from EE on October 16th.