French pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus has renewed rights to the Basketball Champions League for another two seasons.
The deal has been announced ahead of the start of the regular-season group stage tonight (Tuesday).
The Vivendi-owned Canal Plus has been the BCL’s broadcast partner in France since the competition launched in 2016-17 season and has now committed to broadcasting the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns.
Tonight’s match between SIG Strasbourg and Filou Oostende will be broadcast on Basket+, which is available on Canal Plus’ Multisports service. That fixture, along with this week’s matches featuring French sides JDA Dijon and Pau-Lacq-Orthez are set to be streamed on the Vivendi-owned Dailymotion platform.
Patrick Comninos, the league’s chief executive, said that the “Basketball Champions League exposure will be maximised thanks to the extensive offer of Canal+ channels, and we are glad to see the Basketball Champions League solidifying its presence through top-level digital coverage.”
The agreement marks Canal Plus’ second late renewal in a matter of weeks following the broadcast deal in France for the NHL North American ice hockey league.
Sports streaming service DAZN recently-acquired BCL rights in Spain, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Basketball Champions League is a 50-50 joint partnership between Fiba, the sport’s global governing body, and 11 top European leagues.