Premiership champions Chelsea FC take on broadband ISPs

Barclays Premiership champions Chelsea Football Club have become the second Premier League football club to launch a broadband internet service in a growing trend that is spreading across the UK football market.

Viatel, the communications company that is providing the broadband service, is set to launch a significant challenge to established consumer broadband providers such as AOL and BT as it rolls out this service to other football clubs and sporting organisations. The company already provides a similar service to Manchester United and is currently in advanced discussions with ten other Premiership and Scottish sides. Between them, Chelsea FC and Manchester United have over 14 million fans in the UK, representing around one fifth of the total UK population.

Lucy Woods, CEO Viatel said, "There are over 50,000 new broadband subscribers every week. Football fans, who alone make up 45 per cent of this market, want access to great exclusive content and the ability to download it quickly. At Viatel we believe this will be a key driver in the uptake and renewal of broadband services. With Chelsea FC and Manchester United we hope to extend their broadband services in the future and offer users new features such as video on demand and internet telephony."

Chelsea Broadband costs GBP 28.99 per month and offers supporters up to five personal club email addresses and a 2Mb high-speed internet connection with unlimited monthly downloads. Users will also receive a free year’s subscription to Chelsea TV Online, giving them access to exclusive content and, for the first 1,000 subscribers, free video highlights from Sky Sports.

"The attraction of Chelsea Broadband is not only that it allows our fans to have a richer sporting experience through access to exclusive Chelsea TV Online content and the ability to download highlights, but also that it lets them forge an even closer connection to the club by providing them with their own club email. All of this is particularly valuable when many of our supporters cannot make it to the ground" said Chris Tate, Managing Director of Chelsea Digital Media.

Source: Radio Netherlands

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