Portuguese commercial broadcaster TVI has acquired rights for the Taça de Portugal, the country’s premier knockout football cup competition.
TVI’s deal with the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) will run for two seasons, from 2020-21 to 2021-22.
The non-exclusive agreement includes coverage of the annual Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira between the winners of the Primeira Liga and Taça de Portugal in 2021 and 2022.
Public-service broadcaster RTP is the competition’s current free-to-air domestic rights-holder under a three-year deal with the FPF that expires at the end of this season.
RTP’s current agreement is reported to be worth €3.5m ($3.8m) per season in media-rights fees, advertising and sponsorship components. Along with domestic coverage, RTP secured rights to show live games on its RTP Internacional and RTP Africa channels.
Live rights are also held at present by pay-TV broadcaster Sport TV.
TVI will provide live, free-to-air coverage of 11 matches per season, including games from the third and fourth rounds, the round of 16, the quarter-finals, both semi-finals and the final, mirroring the FPF’s current arrangement with RTP.
TVI is already able to show free-to-air coverage of the Uefa Champions League through to the end of the 2020-21 season after striking a two-year extension with international sports broadcaster Eleven Sports in the summer. Under the deal, TVI shows one game per match week featuring a Portuguese team, as well as free-to-air coverage of the Champions League final.
Last week, the FPF agreed a two-year media content and sponsorship deal with pay-television broadcaster Sport TV, following a similar agreement that was reached with RTP earlier this year.