Up until 2015, we were privileged enough to have 1 live Champions League match per week plus highlights. From 2015, BT took that privilege away from us and we no longer had that live game. In 2018, Champions League highlights were gone meaning that only the rich can watch.
Matches on ITV averaged between 5-10 million viewers whereas games on BT has an audience of around 600k-1.5 million viewers. The protected events list is also known as the Crown Jewels list and the Champions League is a Crown Jewels event as it is the pinnacle of European football. Also, France and Italy have the UEFA Champions League on their protected events list and Ireland are able to watch free yet the English have to pay £30 a month to watch a competition which used to be free.