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Thursday, 11 May 2023

Digital TV Europe: Sky Italia secures exclusive Champions League rights

Story from Digital TV Europe:

Sky Italia has secured exclusive Italian rights to 185 out of 203 UEFA Champions League matches per season and all 342 UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League matches per season for the 2024-27 seasons.

The deal comes as UEFA introduces a new format for the 2024-25 season, with matches to be played over 11 months in the year, providing an uplift of 47% in the total number of matches played. The number of teams participating in the final phase will increase from 32 to 36.

In total there will be 527 matches for each of the three seasons of the UEFA Champions League (185 matches, including the playoffs), UEFA Europa League (189 matches) and UEFA Europa Conference League (153 matches), which Sky will broadcast.

Sky’s coverage will include the three finals , as well as the UEFA Europe Super Cup and the UEFA Super Cup , whose new format is still being defined.

Under the current three-year deal, Sky italia holds the rights to broadcast 121 of the 137 UEFA Champions League matches per season and all 282 UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League matches per season.

The balance in Italy is held by Amazon, which in February struck a new deal by which for the first choice of Champions league Wednesday matches. Amazon also holds UEFA rights in Sky’s other main markets – Germany and the UK. In Germany it has first pick of Tuesday matches while in the UK it shares rights with BT Sport.

Of the Sky Italia deal, CEO Andrea Duilio said: “We are really excited to continue to be UEFA’s partner and to offer our subscribers exclusively the big matches of these important European competitions until 2027. “With the renewal of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League, our Casa dello Sport will host many seasons of exclusive live events. A confirmation of our commitment to investing in high-quality content to bring Sky families a varied and quality offer, which combines Italian and international cinema, entertainment, TV series and big sport with the best possible viewing experience.”

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