BT Sport Retains UEFA Champions League Broadcast Rights With $2.2 Billion Deal
UK pay-TV broadcaster, BT Sport, has finalised a $2.2 Billion deal to retain the exclusive broadcast rights to the UEFA Champions League and Europa League from 2021 through 2024.
The deal, marking the highest figure ever paid for Champions League broadcast rights, will see BT Sport show every game live and air highlights in the UK.
BT Sport’s consumer division chief executive, Marc Allera, said this extension of the current broadcast rights agreement with UEFA indicates BT Sport’s strength in producing content for its consumers.
“BT Sport leads the way when it comes to UEFA Champions League coverage, and we’re very excited to continue to bring our world-class coverage to one of the most exciting football competitions in the world, whether that’s broadcasting 12 games simultaneously or delivering industry-leading images in 4K UHD.
“With increasingly more ways to watch our content, with more games on show than ever before, and alongside our excellent line-up of other competitions and sports, BT Sport is going from strength to strength,” Mr Allera said.
The Champions League remains BT Sport’s flagship product following successful and record-breaking broadcast views and statistics last year, where 11.3 million people in the UK tuned in to watch the final between Liverpool and Tottenham across all platforms after BT Sport made it available for all to watch on social media.
UEFA marketing director, Guy Laurent Epstein, said the extension of this broadcast rights deal means further high-quality production for audiences to enjoy.
“All matches will be available across the BT Sport channels and digital services and in addition, UK football fans will be able to enjoy club competition highlights for free on social media each match week, as well as the finals to the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and the newly formed UEFA Europa Conference League.
“Its high-quality production and programming standards set the bar for the industry and audiences will continue to enjoy the competitions in new ways via BT’s innovative approach as it showcases new technologies,” he said.
The announcement of this deal comes after it was confirmed CBS and Univision secured the United States broadcast rights for the European competition with a combined sum of $205 million.
