Uefa, European football’s governing body, has awarded media rights in China for the 2012-13 to 2014-15 cycle of the Europa League to Great Sports Media, a subsidiary of Shanghai Media Group.
One live match and a highlights programme each match week will be broadcast on the Great Sports, BesTV and Power Sports channels. Great Sports will also sublicense one live match and a highlights programme each match week to free-to-air regional channels Guangzhou TV, Shenzhen TV, Jiangsu TV and CSPN.
The rights cover television, internet and mobile. The Team Marketing agency, Uefa’s global sales agent for the Europa League, brokered the deal.
Chinese internet operators Sina and QQ have also acquired rights for the Europa League in 2012-13 to 2014-15, in a deal with Uefa agreed last month.