MANCHESTER: Premier League heavyweights Manchester United announced on Monday that its official network MUTV will be made available on four new platforms this season, namely Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Xbox and potentially Roku, which also has NBA amongst its clients.
The aim behind the move is for MUTV to connect to youngsters aged between 18 and 34 across the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa since trends have shown their growing interest in accessing programming on over-the-top platforms in place of traditional linear television. They also form a majority of the club’s 659 million followers, who will now have an option to view MUTV without a cable subscription.
United had successfully launched MUTV on iOS, Android and MUTV.com last season, with 35 million homes reached in the process. Existing subscribers to the MUTV app and web platforms can access these new platforms for free via a universal login feature, which allows the same credentials to be used across several devices.
The expansion of MUTV coincides with the introduction of a wide range of new on-demand categories. This includes matchday programming and highlights, a library of full classic matches, MUFC Original films, celebrity features and much more, with a selection of this content available for free. This free section will allow both subscribers and non-subscribers to stream videos and engage with the club.
The network has also introduced a choice of subscription passes, including a new discounted annual pass. Subscribers will gain access to exclusive club content such as live coverage and broadcasts of every United match this season across all tournaments they participate in, pre and post-match analysis of each game by United legends and exclusive interviews with Jose Mourinho and the players, exclusive access and features with the new United women’s team and an extensive catalogue of on-demand categories, including The Match In 20, Inside United, Top Tens, Celebrities, Table Football amongst many.
Manchester United’s CEO of Media, Phil Lynch, commented: “The continued expansion of MUTV and the launch on these platforms expands our reach, opens up new audiences, and provides millions of fans access to our award-winning on-demand and linear programming, without having to leave their set-top box environment.”
