CCTV awarded UEFA Champions League rights ESPN STAR Sports awarded English language pay rights for UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League
UEFA announced the completion of media rights deals in China for both the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League during seasons 2009-12.
CCTV, the Chinese public broadcaster, has been awarded a major package of UEFA Champions League rights. Under the terms of the deal, free-to-air channel CCTV 5 will broadcast at least one live match and a highlights programme on every UEFA Champions League matchnight as well as at least one delayed match every matchweek and the UEFA Super Cup. Coverage of the UEFA Champions League on CCTV 5 will be available to over 350 million homes throughout China.
In addition, all live matches from the UEFA Champions League will be available on the Internet via www.cctv.com and on mobile via the CCTV mobile portal cctvsports.net. ESPN STAR Sports has been awarded exclusive English language pay rights in China for both the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League. ESPN STAR Sports will show at least one live match each matchnight from both competitions thereby
complementing the comprehensive free-to-air coverage provided by NMTV, as per the XFMedia deal announced last month.
Commenting on the award of these rights in China, UEFA General Secretary, David Taylor, said: “We are delighted to enhance our partnership with CCTV in China with a new deal that guarantees increased coverage and massive exposure for the UEFA Champions League in the world’s most populous nation. We believe that CCTV will do an excellent job of bringing this wonderful competition to football fans throughout the country.
“At the same time, UEFA is extremely happy that its longstanding relationship with ESPN STAR Sports in China is set to continue. For many years ESPN STAR Sports has excelled as a broadcast partner of UEFA and we look forward to working together in the future, not only on the UEFA Champions League but also for the first time in China, on the UEFA Europa League.”
TEAM Marketing AG is the exclusive marketing agent of UEFA for the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and UEFA Europa League.