Of all things, Deutsche Telekom had to show its big exclusive European Championship game publicly on YouTube: The Euro 2024 round of 16 match between Turkey and Austria on Tuesday evening was actually supposed to be shown exclusively on Magenta TV. However, the overwhelming interest in it overloaded the booking systems of the IPTV service to such an extent that thousands of people found themselves in the digital queue – and apparently had no chance of being able to watch the game on Magenta TV in time. Telekom therefore decided to broadcast the encounter publicly on YouTube as an alternative.
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More than 500,000 people watched the end of the game between Turkey and Austria in the replacement stream on YouTube.
(Image: Heise Online)
Telekom provided those waiting with a direct link to the YouTube stream. This live stream was hidden in the “Magenta Sport” channel on YouTube. You will of course need the direct link to watch. Because it quickly spread on social media, more than 500,000 people watched for free on YouTube by the end of the game, which Turkey won 2-1. This must have been far more than the number of prospective subscribers stuck in the Magenta TV queue. Shortly before the game, around 22,000 people were waiting for the opportunity to subscribe to Magenta TV.
“Exceeded our expectations”
“The response to our special round of 16 Austria-Turkey has been overwhelming and far exceeded our expectations,” Magenta TV said. “That’s why we are also showing the game in our digital waiting room so that our customers don’t miss a single second of the game when they book Magenta TV.”
Screenshot from the queue: Shortly before the game started, 22,000 people were waiting to book Magenta TV.
(Image: Heise Online)
The queue started even before the booking. Therefore, the people standing in the queue had neither paid any money nor given their personal information. As per comments on X However, at least some users had already booked the service for a fee before experiencing technical problems. Heize sought a statement from Online Telecom.
The replacement stream on YouTube apparently ran in upscaled 1080p resolution with 24 fps and was therefore of significantly poorer quality than the actual MagentaTV stream that existing subscribers could watch. A monthly subscription to MagentaTV costs at least 10 euros.
Telekom’s last exclusive game
The round of 16 game between Turkey and Austria was the last of a total of five exclusive games secured by Telekom. All other games will be shown on freeTV on public broadcasters or RTL. The fact that the round of 16 with Turkey’s participation was shown exclusively on pay TV angered many football fans. The respective broadcasters remain silent about the selection process of specific sports,
Deutsche Telekom secured the broadcasting rights for Euro 2024 at the end of 2019. ARD, ZDF and RTL have sublicenses from Telekom to be able to broadcast several games.
Updates
3 July 2024,
09:20
Watch
Added more information about the queue.
(There)
