EE has announced the arrival of Match Day Experience on the BT Sport app, with new customers taking the exclusive Full Works iPhone plan on the new 5G iPhone 12 now among the first sports fans to access the game-changing technology.

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 provides customers with a revolutionary new way to watch live sport.

With sports fans currently unable to attend stadiums, Match Day Experience features offer an immersive and innovative viewing experience like never before on the UK’s number one network for the last seven years in a row.

The new features - which are also now available to BT Sport Ultimate customers - build on the BT Sport app’s award-winning reputation for providing the UK’s ultimate sports viewing experience through elements such as 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 regular live Saturday lunchtime Premier League match.

Selected features will also eventually be available for additional BT Sport programming, including the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, Emirates FA Cup and Gallagher Premiership Rugby, with availability expanding throughout the season.

What does the Match Day Experience 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 buffering - thanks to 5G. A new “pinch and zoom” functionality enables fans to home in on their desired areas of interest to recreate the feeling of being at the ground. 360° offers viewers the chance to select different camera angles and viewpoints not normally seen in broadcast. It also provides a completely different viewing experience from the usual fixed-camera positions, allowing viewers to look around in all directions. 

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 selected 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.

Experience real time graphics delivered through AR to supplement your viewing experience with Manager Mode

Beyond Limits on the BT Sport app

Marc Allera, chief executive of 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.”

What you need to know

Customers taking out an exclusive new EE Full Works Plan for iPhone between 16 October 2020 and 15 January 2021 will enjoy 24 months of the BT Sport app with new Match Day Experience features included as part of their plan. EE Full Works customers also receive access to Apple Music, Apple TV+ and 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, plus an EE Lifetime Guarantee, which provides customers with an extended warranty for the lifetime of their contract until they upgrade or leave.