The Paramount+ streaming service, owned by the titular US media giant Paramount, has snapped up the primary suite of UK media rights to European soccer's top-tier UEFA Champions League competition for the 2027-31 cycle.
Paramount is taking over the rights currently held by Warner Bros. Discovery-owned pay-TV player TNT Sports, and has reportedly paid “well in excess” of the reported £918 million ($1.11 billion) that TNT paid across its own three-year rights cycle.
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Paramount already holds UCL rights in the US, and by extending its coverage to the UK, has similarly entrenched its relationship with UEFA and its new global commercial rights distributor, Relevent, which had been the specific US rightsholder since 2022.
Relevant and UC3 (UEFA’s joint venture to manage commercial rights with its constituent clubs) agreed to add a year to the rights cycle, which has naturally stoked bidding thanks to its longer-term certainty.
The US media giant has spent big since its recent acquisition by film production enterprise Skydance, splashing billions of dollars on rights to TKO-owned combat sports products in particular.
Now, it has outmuscled TNT Sports, which reportedly did seek to retain its rights but failed to match Paramount’s financial might.
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By GlobalDataTNT bowing out of the UCL rights, perhaps its strongest suite of UK soccer rights, may also lend credence to the ongoing sale talk surrounding Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).
As recently as October, WBD rejected a takeover bid from Paramount and is reportedly mulling its options as more bids from the likes of Comcast and Paramount are expected.
If Paramount were to acquire WBD and TNT Sports, it would immediately cement itself as a top player in the UK sports market, with the capture of UCL rights for its Paramount+ platform, which is still in the growth stage in the UK, illustrating its ambition.
Speaking on Paramount's major entry into the UK sports market, GlobalData Sport lead analyst Conrad Wiacek commented: "Paramount's deal for Champions League coverage in the UK serves as a death blow to TNT Sports and solidifies Paramount as the home of the UEFA Champions League. With its US coverage firmly established and gaining significant social media traction, Paramount will be hoping to replicate the success of its flagship soccer content in the UK.
"For TNT Sports, it signals a crushing blow in its sports coverage. TNT Sport is left with one Premier League per game per week depending on schedules, and a huge hole in its midweek coverage, and having already lost the NBA to rivals Sky in the summer, and now losing Europa League and Conference League coverage to Sky as well, the coverage largely centers around smaller, more niche sports which, will not be enough to sustain its significant price point.
"After taking over BT Sport and looking to make inroads into the UK market, it looks like TNT Sports will have to reassess its market position, having lost its crown jewel TV rights. "
Paramount’s rights package includes every UCL fixture each game week, bar the weekly top-pick Tuesday-night game, a package that Amazon Prime Video retains through 2031.
Indeed, Prime has extended its first-pick rights across Europe in the UK and Ireland, Germany, and Italy, with the latter two shifting to Wednesday night.
The fact that Prime Video is bundled with Amazon’s Prime e-commerce offering has helped it cement its place as one of the most popular global streamers, and it has leveraged this position into strong UCL viewership, including broken streaming records in the UK in the 2024-25 campaign.
TNT Sports’ media rights travails have continued across the tender for the cycle, with rival Sky Sports, the country’s dominant pay-TV sports provider, having secured the rights to the secondary UEFA Europa League and tertiary UEFA Conference League competitions.
Sky will showcase all 342 games each season from across the two competitions on an exclusive basis, bolstering a soccer portfolio that already includes the English Premier League, Scottish Premiership, and more.
The pay-TV service hasn't held European international club soccer rights since 2015, when it last broadcast the UCL.
In the current 2025-26 campaign, six UK teams are competing across the Europa League and Conference League, as well as two Irish sides, meaning the country is better represented in the competitions than even the top-tier UCL, which features six English teams.
Meanwhile, public service broadcaster the BBC has retained its Wednesday-night highlights show through the period.
The broadcaster has held the same rights since the 2024-25 season as part of a three-year deal and will continue to do so through the 2030-21 campaign.
Highlights will continue to be shown from 10pm on the Wednesday of match weeks on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, and the BBC Sport website and app, with clips also available online and on social media.
A Match of the Day programme will also be broadcast on BBC One after the news on Wednesday nights.
Alex Kay-Jelski, director of BBC Sport, said: "The Champions League is the pinnacle of European club football and we're delighted to be providing a free-to-air option for fans who want to see every goal and moment that matters.
"This deal continues our game-changing football portfolio and ensures audiences can enjoy the very best coverage across BBC TV, iPlayer, Sounds, radio, and digital platforms."
The extended Champions League deal complements the BBC's existing domestic soccer rights, which include Premier League highlights and live FA Cup coverage, as well as the men's and women's World Cups, Men's Euro 2028, the Women's Super League, and the Women's Champions League.
