UK pay-television broadcaster BSkyB has acquired media rights for the Eredivisie, the top division of football in the Netherlands, and will launch a new channel, Sky Sports 5, to exploit the rights as part of its European football coverage.
The deal for the Eredivisie will cover four seasons, from 2014-15 to 2017-18.
Sky Sports 5, which will launch on June 12, will be available at no extra cost to subscribers to the Sky Sports package of channels.
Sky Sports 5 will show up to 600 live European football matches next season, including coverage of European national team qualifiers, the Uefa Champions League, the Spanish top-tier Liga and Spain’s Copa del Rey knockout tournament plus magazine programming.
Subscribers who activate Sky Sports 5 by visiting the Sky website can also register for two years of free broadband from Sky. Sky’s UK pay-television rival BT Sport has been used by BT as a vehicle to push out the telecommunications company’s broadband services.