Canal+ has secured the exclusive rights to games from the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League for its pay-TV channel and streaming service in Austria.
The contract with European football association UEFA, of which financial details were not disclosed, covers the UEFA Champions League first pick game played on Wednesday and the UEFA Europa League or UEFA Europa Conference League first pick game each week from 2024.
Following each match, Canal+ will screen a post-game show with highlights of all games of the week. Canal+ will be the only Austrian broadcaster showing all three finals of the UEFA top club competitions.
The acquisition marks the premiere of European football competitions on Canal+ in Austria and complements the line-up of the recently launched Austrian Canal+ service which also features premium and exclusive movies and series.
“We’ve started to build the home of European movies and series in Austria earlier this year, together with our partner A1,” said Martijn van Hout, Vice President Canal+ Luxembourg for Austria and Germany. “Now we will start to build the new home of European football to provide a premium and widely available sports programme for the broad audience of Austrians that enjoy football of the highest level.”
The sports programmes will be distributed via linear TV and the streaming platform of Canal+ in Austria.
With this partnership, Canal+ Group expands its long-standing relationship with UEFA. In the current cycle, Canal+ Group broadcasts the UEFA club competitions in more than 50 countries including France, Switzerland, Sub-Saharan Africa, Myanmar and Haiti, and offers premium sports channels to its subscribers in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Vietnam and Ethiopia.
“The acquisition of these premium sports rights is part of Canal+ Group’s international development strategy and shows our commitment to drive the growth of our platforms with our partners in Austria. Our goal is to provide our customers with the best highlights and services, especially in terms of sports, movies and series,” said Jacques du Puy, CEO of Canal+ International and deputy CEO of Canal+ Group.
Canal+ launched in Austria in March 2022 in cooperation with telco A1 Telekom Austria, offering the linear TV channel Canal+ First and a streaming service, focussing on European movies and series. The channel is available on A1 Xplore TV, HD Austria as well as Liwest, KabelPlus and Sky.
DTH satellite TV and OTT provider HD Austria is also part of Canal+ Group.