Uefa awards European soccer rights in three territories

17 April 2012 | Posted in Broadcast, Soccer, North America, Europe | By Michael Long

Uefa has announced the sale of Champions League and Europa League media rights for the period 2012-15 in Turkey, Canada and Romania.

In Turkey, the Dogan Group’s DSmart platform will provide live coverage of matches and highlights programmes each match week for both competitions. DSmart will also exploit the rights on its internet and mobile services.

Meanwhile, the first-choice Champions League match each Tuesday, the best Europa League match each Thursday, as well as the Champions League and Europa League Finals, will be shown by free-to-air broadcasters Star TV and NTV. Free-to-air programming will also include a highlights programme each Tuesday for Champions League action and each Thursday for the Europa League.

In Canada, Sportsnet has acquired a package of Europa League rights to add to the Champions League rights it obtained last month. The broadcaster will show two live matches each match night on Sportsnet One and on Sportsnet World, as well as a highlights programme each match week.

The awarding of the rights, granted on a platform-neutral basis, concludes the sale of media rights for both competitions in the Americas.

• Rogers Sportsnet wins Canadian Champions League rights
  
• Remaining Europa League rights sold in Spain
  
• Uefa agrees French coverage for next two Euros
  

Finally, Uefa today announced that it has awarded the Champions League media rights for the coming three year cycle to RCS RDS and RomTelecom in Romania.

Both pay broadcasters have been awarded all matches on a live and delayed basis as well as highlights. RCS RDS will show three live matches as well as a highlights programme every match night on its ‘DIGI Sport’ channel, while RomTelecom will do the same on its ‘Dolce Sport’ offering. Both broadcasters will exploit the rights on their respective online and mobile platforms.

According to an official Uefa statement, ‘In order to complement this comprehensive pay offering, Uefa has preserved the ability to contract with a free-to-air broadcaster the right to transmit one live match each Tuesday throughout the season, including the final and the Uefa Super Cup, as well as a Tuesday highlights programme.’

Therefore, a further announcement regarding the sale of the remaining Champions League rights in the territory will be made in due course.

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