BBC to broadcast World Cup matches over internet

British soccer fans will be able to watch World Cup action free over the internet thanks to a deal unveiled by the BBC today that could serve to distract office workers around the United Kingdom.

"We know a lot of online viewing is done in the office, so we suspect this will allow people both to do their job and to keep up with the very latest action from Germany," said Roger Mosey, the BBC's director of sport.

However, New Zealand fans shouldn't get their hopes up - this service is not going to be available outside the UK.

Many of the first-round matches, which start June 9, kick off at 2pm or 3pm British time.

The World Cup is the most watched sporting event in the world and is expected to draw record audiences this year after suffering the last time around when the tournament was played in Korea, making it difficult for European and North American fans to tune in live because of the time difference.

The public broadcaster declined to comment on how much it paid for the broadband rights in the deal with Infront Sports and Media, which oversees worldwide sales of the month-long tournament's broadcast rights.

The BBC announced earlier in the week it would be showing Wimbledon tennis over the internet as well, and it has previously broadcast the Olympics online.

Heavy internet traffic during major news events has overloaded websites in the past and caused them to shut down temporarily, but the BBC said it had addressed the technical issues.

"As part of the BBC's long-term plans to deliver content to new platforms, we've been working with the online industry to take measures that will help us deal with the levels of demand that these sorts of major events can generate," a spokesman said.

The public broadcaster is splitting the live-TV World Cup rights with commercial broadcaster ITV and is showing 23 of the first-round matches, all of which will be available on the internet for UK residents only.

In addition to streaming the games for free with the same commentary as will be available on TV, the BBC will provide online radio from Five Live, and its journalists will be writing minute-by-minute updates of every match.

"Our audiences now expect to get BBC Sport on television, on radio and online -- and the World Cup on broadband is our biggest commitment yet to bringing people major events where and when they want them," Mosey said.

The BBC has non-exclusive rights to show short highlights from every match of the World Cup on the internet and also will have exclusive rights to England's second-round and quarter-final games if the team advances.

- REUTERS