- New ‘Match Day Experience’ features will provide game-changing Augmented Reality viewing on the go via EE’s 5G network
- Match Day Experience features also offer 360 pitch-side viewing and ‘Watch Together’, allowing fans to video chat with friends live in a unique split-screen view while also watching the game
- The service will place fans at the heart of sport in the absence of being able to attend sporting events
- Customers taking out an exclusive new EE Full Works Plan with iPhone 12 from 16th October will receive inclusive access to the new Match Day Experience features
EE today announced Match Day Experience features for EE customers on a new exclusive Full Works plan and 5G iPhone. Through a set of ground-breaking 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, Match Day Experience will provide customers with a revolutionary new way to watch sport.
With sports fans currently unable to watch live sport in stadiums, Match Day Experience features will offer an immersive and innovative viewing experience like never before – on the UK’s no.1 network for the last seven years in a row and the UK’s no.1 network for 5G.
The new features build on the BT Sport App’s award-winning reputation for providing the UK’s ultimate sports viewing experience, which allows customers to take control of their own viewing experience with features that include an interactive timeline and multi-cam replays. When combined with the power of EE’s award winning 5G network, offering enhanced latency and bandwidth, the new features will offer sports fans a premium viewing experience like no other on a 5G iPhone when on the go.
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 – an exciting new social innovation, Watch Together is the only service allowing 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 best ever 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, said: “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 16th October 2020 to 15th January 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.
All Full Works customers also receive Upgrade Anytime, letting them swap their existing phone as often as they like, as well as a Service Pack at no extra cost. Service Packs feature an annual device MOT and £10 to spend on cases and screen protectors and an EE Lifetime Guarantee which provides customers with an extended warranty for the lifetime of their contract until they upgrade or leave.
For customers wanting details on Match Day Experience, further information will be available on EE.co.uk from 16th October.
Selected upcoming events on BT Sport with Match Day Experience features:
Note: the full set of Match Day Experience features, except Dolby Atmos, will be available for BT Sport’s live featured Saturday lunchtime Premier League match (games as listed below). Selected features are available around other events, with availability expanding throughout the season.
- 24 Oct – Premier League – West Ham United V Manchester City – 11.30am BT Sport 1
- 24 Oct – Gallagher Premiership Rugby Final – Exeter Chiefs v Wasps – 5.15pm BT Sport 1
- 27 Oct – UEFA Champions League – Marseille v Manchester City – 7pm BT Sport 2
- 28 Oct – UEFA Champions League – Manchester United v RB Leipzig – 7pm BT Sport 2
- 29 Oct – UEFA Europa League – Antwerp v Tottenham Hotspur – 5.15pm BT Sport 2
- 31 Oct – Premier League – Sheffield United V Manchester City – 12.30pm KO BT Sport 1
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Notes:
*List is not exhaustive. Not every feature will be available for every event listed. The list of events with Match Day Experience is updated on an ongoing basis. Please refer to btsport.com for the latest.
About EE
EE runs the UK’s biggest and fastest mobile network, offering superfast connections in more places than any other operator. EE brought the first 4G network to the UK in October 2012 with it continuing to be the UK’s biggest 4G network and launched the UK’s first 5G network in May 2019.
EE has received extensive independent recognition, including being named the UK’s best network every year since 2014 for all the following awards: The Mobile Choice Awards, The Mobile Industry Awards and by RootMetrics®.
As well as offering mobile services to consumers and small and medium businesses, EE also provides home and business broadband using both 4G and fixed line connections.
EE is committed to being number one for service in the industry. Its retail presence exceeds more than 600 shops across the UK. EE remains the only mobile provider to answer 100% of customer calls in the UK and Ireland and was recognised as the UK’s Best Large Contact Centre by the UK Customer Experience Awards 2018 and Welsh Contact Centre Awards 2019. EE was awarded The Sunday Times’ Best 100 Companies to Work for in 2018 and 2019, as well as being named Best Employer 2018 by the European Contact Centre & Customer Service awards.
EE is part of BT’s Consumer business unit which provides products and services to all of BT’s consumer customers in the UK.
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Source: EE Newsroom
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