Portuguese commercial broadcaster TVI has concluded a deal for free-to-air rights to club football competition the Uefa Champions League.
The deal has been reached with international sports broadcaster Eleven Sports, rights-holder of the tournament in Portugal, and comes after the two parties last month said they had entered exclusive talks over a sublicensing contract.
The agreement will initially cover the 2018-19 season and provisionally includes 10 matches. These comprise Benfica’s matches in the play-off stage, as well as one match per gameweek featuring either FC Porto or Benfica in the group stage, the Champions League final and the forthcoming Super Cup clash between Spanish LaLiga rivals Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid.
TVI added that the agreement could be extended to one match per round from the knockout stages of the Champions League, if Porto or Benfica progress that far.
TVI’s deal with Eleven also includes highlights rights and digital clips, while the broadcaster will also provide highlights from LaLiga and France’s Ligue 1.
In other news, Eleven has said it will set a first in Portugal by live streaming Saturday’s French Trophée des Champions match between Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco on social media platform Facebook.
Eleven said the initiative will see it become the first ever platform to show a live match on social media in Portugal. The move comes with Eleven set to launch officially on August 15 with the Uefa Super Cup. Ahead of that date, the platform will stream select matches from Ligue 1 on Facebook.
Pedro Pinto, non-executive director of Eleven Sports Portugal, said: “The fans have been asking us to show the opening matches from Ligue 1 ahead of our launch on August 15. We have listened to them and a found a way to make this work, underlining our agile and innovative approach with the fans at the heart of everything we do.
“By delivering Ligue 1 games on Facebook we are making history, giving fans a first taste of what they can expect from Eleven Sports and the way we approach live coverage of matches.”