Business & Technology
Millions risk buffering as football streaming surges
More than 30 million UK adults plan to watch or stream football matches this summer, according to Uswitch, which warned that broadband speeds in some parts of the country could leave households behind the live action.
Research cited by the comparison site found that 56% of UK adults expect to follow matches during the tournament, while 35% said a goal or other key moment had previously been spoiled because their stream lagged behind real time.
The figures highlight a gap between growing demand for live sports streaming and the quality of home broadband connections in several regions. Uswitch estimated that about 2.4 million households in the five worst-performing regions could face disruption during matches.
The South West ranked as the weakest region for what Uswitch called 4K readiness, with 21.8% of households below the 25 Mbps speed it uses as a benchmark for streaming at that quality. Scotland and Wales followed, with 19.0% and 18.9% of households respectively below that level, ahead of the East of England and the South East.
By contrast, the North West recorded the highest readiness score in the regional table, with 84.5% of homes above the threshold. Greater London, the East Midlands, Yorkshire and The Humber, the West Midlands, Northern Ireland and the North East all ranked above the five weakest regions.
Regional divide
At city level, Kirkwall in Scotland was listed as the least ready location for streaming, with 70.1% of homes meeting the benchmark. Llandrindod in Wales, Perth in Scotland and Truro in the South West were also among the weakest locations in the data.
Other South West locations, including Exeter, Torquay and Plymouth, featured in the bottom 10, alongside Aberdeen, Dumfries and Shrewsbury. In Truro, Exeter and Plymouth, roughly one in four households may struggle to stream matches smoothly, while in Kirkwall and Llandrindod the figure was closer to three in 10.
The survey suggests many viewers will put additional pressure on home connections during matches. Some 36% said they expected to watch multiple games each day, 46% planned to use a second screen such as a phone or tablet while watching, and 32% expected at least three devices to be connected to the internet at the same time.
That matters because even homes that can support a single stream may run into problems when several devices are online at once. Two-thirds of adults, or 66%, said they had already experienced buffering or lag while streaming television at home.
Watching habits
The audience for the tournament also appears likely to extend beyond regular football viewers. According to the survey, 61% of those planning to watch said they would tune in to matches they would not normally follow.
Regional fan interest was strongest in London, where 69% of respondents were classified as football-mad in the research, followed by Yorkshire and Humberside on 66% and the West Midlands on 63%. At city level, Sheffield led on 67%, ahead of Birmingham, London and Leeds.
The North West stood out as a market where strong football interest and comparatively better broadband performance overlap. Liverpool and Manchester both featured among the most football-focused cities in the survey, while the region also led on the share of homes above the 25 Mbps threshold.
Max Beckett, Broadband Expert at Uswitch, said: “Millions of fans risk watching this summer’s football through a buffering screen rather than a clear picture. In parts of the South West and Scotland in particular, broadband simply isn’t keeping pace with the streaming demand a tournament of this size creates. That means millions could miss key moments, or worse, that winning goal. Check your speed before kick-off. Waiting until the opening match to discover your connection can’t handle it is the worst time to find out.”
Uswitch based its regional and city analysis on broadband speed tests recorded over the past 12 months. It defined readiness as the share of tests showing download speeds of 25 Mbps or more, and used postcode areas as a proxy for city geography.
The survey was conducted by Opinium among 2,000 UK adults and weighted to be nationally representative. On that basis, Uswitch estimated that 30,812,461 adults expect to watch or stream matches during the tournament.
Kirtlington Community Shop and Cafe is currently under construction, after a community share offer running since 2020 raised the funds for the purpose-built business in the village west of Bicester.
Already the project is gaining recognition, as it has been shortlisted as a finalist for the Rural Community Business Awards 2026.
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The annual awards, sponsored by Lands Improvement and hosted by Woodstock-based charity Plunkett UK, have named the rural businesses in the ‘One To Watch’ category.
Celia Hawkesworth, chair of the management committee for the new shop, said: “We’re thrilled to be one of the finalists in the ‘One To Watch’ category.
“We’ve been working hard on this project since 2020, and it’s an honour to be recognised alongside the best community-owned businesses when we’ve barely got started.
“Exciting times are ahead as we work towards opening our new shop and cafe later in the summer.”
Locals came together after the village’s shop closed in 2020, and since then successfully raised £233,500 towards the £275,000 target funds needed for the project.
This includes £180,000 raised through a community share offer, meaning villagers have personally invested in the scheme.
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A ground-breaking ceremony was held on April 10 this year to mark the beginning of construction of the much-wanted community shop and cafe.
The new shop and cafe, designed to bring services ‘back to the heart of the community’, will be housed in a purpose-built, energy-efficient building next to the village hall.
Plunkett UK, a national charity which supports people in rural areas to set up and run a wide range of businesses in community ownership, provided the village group with ‘invaluable’ advice, according to the committee chair.
The charity’s vision is to create resilient, thriving and inclusive rural communities by extending the number of democratic, community-owned business from the more than 850 already operating in the UK.
Its rural community business awards celebrates businesses that contribute to their areas across nine different categories, from the ‘going green’ award to ‘team spirit’ and ‘young person’.
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Sarah Benn, Relationships Team Leader at Plunkett UK, said: “It has been inspiring to see so many people nominate their local community-owned businesses, truly emphasising the significant role they play in their communities.
“We celebrate the considerable impact each one is making it its local area and we are looking forward to next month’s awards event when the winners are announced.”
The award ceremony will take place at The Royal Society of Chemistry in London on Thursday, July 2.
The Kirtlington Community Shop and Cafe is expected to open later in the summer.
The Berkshire-based grocery chain Budgens is looking to open up a new shop in Woodstock this year.
It would be placed in Wincott Square, at the Park View development within the town.
The Park View development in Woodstock features exactly 300 homes.
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Built by Pye Homes in partnership with landowner Blenheim Estate Homes, the development offers a mix of one-to five-bedroom properties, with 50 per cent of the houses designated as affordable housing.
The site features a blend of apartments and houses, as well as a mixed-use centre and community spaces.
All homes at the Park View site are now sold, though the developers have shifted focus to a new low-carbon community nearby called Hill Rise.
Budgens is looking to trade between 6am and 11pm Monday to Sunday, according to its application for an alcohol licence to West Oxfordshire District Council.
A period of consultation has now opened with residents in the area invited to provide feedback on the proposals to the district council.
A decision on whether it can have its licence will be made in the near future.
Budgens already has shops in Carterton, Witney and Yarnton as well as additional ones in Oxford, Abingdon and in Marcham.
Face Int UK has published survey findings showing strong public support for facial recognition in banking, border control and policing, but weaker backing for broader use in settings such as retail and schools.
The poll of 2,000 UK adults found the strongest support for border control, where 81% favoured the deployment of facial recognition technology. Support was also high for use by police and security forces at 73%, for identity checks by banks at 71%, and for access to secured physical sites at 70%.
Consumer devices also attracted majority support, with 67% backing the use of facial recognition to unlock smartphones and laptops.
Support fell in settings where the case for using the technology appeared less settled. Only 54% supported its use by retailers for security purposes, while 47% backed its use in schools.
Just over half of those surveyed, 53%, said facial recognition should be limited to cases with a clear public benefit and strong safeguards.
The findings suggest a public mood that is more conditional than outright supportive or hostile, as businesses, police forces and public bodies continue to weigh how and where the technology should be introduced.
Selective support
The results indicate that respondents distinguish between security-led uses and more everyday or sensitive settings. Border control, banking checks and restricted-site access drew stronger support than retail surveillance or school use.
That pattern matters because facial recognition has become a broader policy and commercial issue in the UK. Police use has faced scrutiny from privacy campaigners and regulators, while retailers and supermarkets have also explored the technology for security and loss prevention.
For companies considering deployment, the research suggests that public acceptance may depend less on the technology itself than on the context in which it is used. Settings linked to security and identity verification appear to command more confidence than environments where the benefit is less obvious.
Face Int commissioned Opinium to carry out the online survey among a nationally representative sample of UK adults. The sample was weighted by age, gender, region, employment status and political views.
Industry view
Tony Kounnis, Chief Executive Officer of Face Int UK, said the findings showed a more complex picture of opinion than a simple divide between support and opposition.
He said: “Public attitudes towards facial recognition are far more nuanced than people often assume. It is too simple to say that people either support the technology or they do not.
“There is clear support for its use in environments where security is critical and the benefit is easy to understand, such as border control, banking and access to secured sites.
“But support is also highly conditional. People are making clear distinctions between how and where facial recognition technology is used, and they expect it to be deployed responsibly and with strong safeguards in place.
“That is an important message for businesses and public institutions alike. The use of facial recognition technology must be accompanied by a clear explanation of why it is being used, what problem it is solving and how people’s data is being protected.”
The survey comes as facial recognition remains a contested area of technology policy. Supporters argue it can help confirm identity, improve security and reduce fraud, while critics have raised concerns about privacy, oversight and the handling of biometric information.
The split in attitudes shown by the poll reflects that tension. Britons appear willing to accept facial recognition when the purpose is tightly defined, but less comfortable when it moves into settings that may feel more intrusive or harder to justify.
That distinction could shape how organisations present any rollout. The data suggests that public backing is tied to a clear explanation of the purpose, the setting and the safeguards around the use of personal data.
In practical terms, the strongest support lies in controlled environments where identity checks are already expected. Lower figures for retailers and schools indicate that any extension into more routine public spaces may face a tougher reception.
The most widely supported use in the survey was facial recognition at border control, backed by 81% of respondents.
Oxfordshire village shop and cafe finalist in national award
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Millions risk buffering as football streaming surges
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