A major TV football shakeup has been announced today, with the UEFA Champions League’s rights being divided between three broadcasters: BT Sport, Amazon’s Prime Video and the BBC.
BT Sport, which currently holds the exclusive rights for the UEFA Champions League matches, will remain the league’s home until 2027, but will no longer air all the games.
Some of the matches will move over to Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service, with Wednesday night highlights being shown on the BBC.
Today it was announced that Amazon’s Prime Video has secured the rights to exclusively broadcast the Tuesday night top-pick matches of the UEFA Champions League for three seasons from 2024/25.
These fixtures will always feature an English team during the group stages and, where they have qualified, through to the semi-finals.
Alex Green, MD Prime Video Sport Europe, said: “The addition of UEFA Champions League football is a truly momentous moment for Prime Video in the UK.
“Since 2018, we’ve seen millions of Prime members in the UK enjoy live sport on Prime Video, and it’s that passion and energy that has led us to this exciting next step.
“We can’t wait to bring fans the headline fixture of European football’s most prestigious competition every Tuesday and we’ll have more details to share about our broadcast in the future”.
To watch Prime Video content, viewers need to subscribe either to Amazon’s full Prime service (which includes Prime Video and other benefits, such as free shipping), at £79/year, or to the standalone Prime Video subscription.
You can watch Prime Video on almost every streaming device (such as Roku and Fire TV), Smart TVs in the UK, tablets and smartphones – as most of them already have the Prime Video app.
If you’re not a member yet, you can get a free trial for 30 days, either to the full Amazon Prime service, or just for Prime Video.
UEFA Champions League on BT Sport
BT Sport did secure the rights to the majority of the UEFA Champions League games, plus all the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Europa Conference League exclusively live, for a further three seasons.
Therefore, BT Sport will show 533 of the 550 games available. And as it did in recent years, BT Sport will continue to make the finals available for all to watch, for free.
BT Sport will show the new format of the three European competitions from 2024, with 12 more teams, more matches than ever before, plus the introduction of an additional “knockout-playoff” round.
BT’s announcement is coming a couple of months after BT Sport revealed a big upcoming shakeup, with BT Sport and Eurosport merging into a combined service, as part of a joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery.
This means the combined service will continue to hold the rights to some of the most significant sporting events, including the UEFA leagues, Premier League and more.
To get BT Sport, you need to either sign up via one of the pay-TV platforms:
Or you can subscribe to the standalone BT Sport Monthly Pass streaming service.
UEFA Highlights Coming To The BBC
While the full matches are going to air on BT Sport and Prime Video, starting in 2024 the BBC will become home to Wednesday night highlights, showcasing all of the action across its linear, digital and social channels, delivering all of the goals and unmissable moments.
BBC Director of Sport, Barbara Slater said: “We are simply thrilled to have won these rights.
“Our reach and ability to bring people together is unrivalled and we couldn’t be more delighted that UEFA have recognised the value in our ability to bring the UEFA Champions League to the widest possible audience across the UK”.
Guy-Laurent Epstein, UEFA Marketing Director, said: “We are thrilled to be partnering with the BBC in the UK for 2024-27, as it broadcasts UEFA Champions League Wednesday highlights for the very first time.
“The BBC brand is synonymous with premium sport, and it will apply its extensive expertise in delivering wide-reaching UEFA Champions League coverage for fans in the market”.