Amazon is close to securing a stunning deal to broadcast the Champions League in the UK for the first time, a major boost to its ambitions to become a major sports broadcaster.
Amazon, which already has a sports streaming portfolio that includes football, tennis and rugby, is expected to split the UK TV rights to UEFA’s premier club competition with current holder BT Sport, thanks to a new deal with UEFA.
BT, which has broadcast the Champions League since 2015 after beating Sky and ITV, paid €1.39 billion in the latest auction for exclusive rights until 2024.
According to Bloomberg, UEFA hopes to see a 20% increase in value with the new deal, which also includes Europa League and Europa Conference League matches. UEFA is also selling live broadcast rights, with ITV likely to be a competitor.
For Amazon, it would be the biggest deal struck in the UK since it broke BT and Sky’s dominance of the Premier League in 2018 with a deal to broadcast 20 live matches a season.
Amazon’s strategy to establish itself as a sports streaming company led the company in March to sign an 11-year, $1 billion-a-year deal to broadcast the National Football League live in the United States.
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