Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus evades challenge from Frenkie de Jong of Ajax during the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final second leg match between Juventus and Ajax at Allianz Stadium on April 16, 2019 in Turin, Italy.
Chris Ricco | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images
ViacomCBS will become the exclusive English language streamer of UEFA Champions League games in the U.S. beginning in August, in time for the conclusion of the 2019-20 season. Previously, ViacomCBS’s rights agreement began in 2021. The UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) is the umbrella European soccer organization for 55 national football associations across Europe
CBS All Access, ViacomCBS’s flagship streaming service, will live-stream all UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches starting in August through 2024. The deal also includes UEFA Super Cup matches and UEFA Europa Conference League matches beginning in 2021. CBS will also air select matches on its linear broadcast network and its cable sports network CBS Sports Network.
“This is a landmark acquisition for CBS as we add the world’s most popular sport to our extensive portfolio of marquee properties,” said Sean McManus, CBS Sports chairman, in a statement.
ViacomCBS is readying a launch of an expanded CBS All Access that draws on Viacom properties. The new, enhanced service will “soft launch” later this year. CBS All Access already stands apart from many subscription video services by including live sports, such as National Football League games. ViacomCBS hasn’t announced a price for its new service. CBS All Access currently costs $5.99 per month with advertisements and $9.99 per month without ads.
European soccer plans to return to action along with a number of U.S. sports this summer, including Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association. NBCUniversal’s subscription video service Peacock will live stream Premiere League games when it launches nationally on July 15. Premiere League restarted its season in June.
CBS All Access will begin streaming games in August with Round of 16 matches. The full schedule for the August tournament including times, platforms and announcers will be released in the coming weeks.
“This partnership marks a major step in our service’s expansion into exclusive sports content and we’re thrilled to deliver more than 300 UEFA matches each season,” Marc DeBevoise, Chief Digital Officer of ViacomCBS, said in the statement.
Disclosure: Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC and CNBC.com.
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