Digiturk nets Euro 2016 rights package

Turkish pay-television operator Digiturk has acquired rights to the Uefa Euro 2016 national team tournament under a sublicensing deal with state broadcaster TRT.

Under the agreement, TRT will be the main free-to-air broadcaster of this summer’s tournament in France, and will broadcast all matches alongside Digiturk.

The last time such an arrangement existed was for Euro 2008, when commercial broadcaster ATV simulcast the matches with Digiturk. For 2008, ATV broadcast in standard definition, while Digiturk broadcast in high definition, giving it a technical advantage. Both TRT and Digiturk will broadcast Euro 2016 in HD.

Digiturk will broadcast all 51 Euro 2016 matches on its Lig TV channel. TRT acquired all Euro 2016 rights in January, shortly after Turkey’s qualification for the tournament.

Turkey has been drawn alongside Spain, Croatia and the Czech Republic in the group stages for Euro 2016, which commences on June 10 and runs through to July 10.