Brazilian free-to-air sports broadcaster Esporte Interativo has struck a deal to acquire rights for the Uefa Champions League European club football tournament, according to reports.
Esporte Interativo has acquired pay-television and online rights for all of the tournament’s games for three seasons, from 2015-16 to 2017-18, according to the Maquina do Esporte news website.
The agreement still needs to be approved by football’s European governing body Uefa.
Media company Globo will show free-to-air coverage of Champions League matches, but not every game, the report continued.
In acquiring the rights, Esporte Interativo has dislodged pay-television broadcaster ESPN as a provider of Champions League programming for the first time since the launch of the tournament in 1992.
ESPN tabled a joint bid with Globosat-owned pay-television channel Sportv in an effort to counter an anticipated bid from pay-television rival Fox Sports, but an offer from the latter failed to materialise.