November 13 – CBS Sports who entered into the US battle for control of football (soccer) broadcast rights last week with the securing of the UEFA Champions League TV deal has outlined plans for its coverage.
CBS, alongside Univision in the US who have renewed Spanish language rights in the US, will broadcast games on CBS and CBS Sports’ platforms “with all matches available on All Access and select games available on broadcast,” said CBS Corporation President and Acting CEO Joe Ianniello.
“We will now have more than 400 matches per year spanning nine months across the calendar,” he said. “Soccer fans know these rights represent some of the most prestigious and popular soccer tournaments in the world, so we couldn’t be more pleased that we’ve won this hotly contested process. We’re currently finalising contracts for this multi-year deal.”
No figure was announced for the CBS deal though with Univision they have been reported as paying a combined $150 million a year.
CBS will take over the contract from Turner who are currently in the second year of their deal with UEFA. The CBS deal includes the UEFA Europa League and new UEFA Europa Conference League which will start in 2021.
Like Turner – which airs most early round games on OTT via its B/R Live streaming service – CBS will similarly use the Champions League on its All Access OTT which has eight million subscribers.
CBS was last in the soccer right marketplace with the second tier and now defunct North American Soccer League (NASL).
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