MANY WORLD CUP FANS IN U.K. WILL WATCH ONLINE

Thirty percent of British soccer fans are planning to watch the World Cup online, according to a survey of over 3,000 viewers by the U.K. tech retailer PC World (unrelated to the U.S. magazine). According to the survey, 23 percent said they would be using a personal computer, while nearly 20 percent said they would be using a mobile device. The company said that it has seen a surge in sales of Slingboxes, devices that stream live TV from home receivers to remote PCs and smartphones. (The British website Broadbandchoices.co.uk warned today that heavy users could easily breach the terms of some carriers’ download limits.) About 25 percent of all fans said that they would also be using social networks like Facebook or Twitter to comment on plays either while watching them on TV or online. In a statement, PC World Category Directory Jeremy Fennell said, “Internet TV was only just coming into play when England last played in a World Cup tournament. Now, in just four years, football fans are able to watch live and recorded footage from laptops, desktop PCs and mobile phones from just about any location in the U.K. and across the world.”