Austria's pay-TV giant, Canal Plus, and public-service broadcaster ORF have extended their sub-licensing deal for the UEFA Champions League (UCL), Europe's premier soccer competition. This marks the second consecutive season that ORF has secured highlight rights to UCL action.
The extension of this partnership was announced recently, with the group stages of this year's Champions League set to kick off on September 16. As part of the agreement, ORF 1 channel will showcase "all goals and best moments" from each matchday starting next Thursday evening. In addition to this, Canal Plus Action channel will also offer highlights.
Canal Plus holds live rights for UCL in Austria for three seasons from 2024-25 through a deal unveiled in late 2022. This arrangement allows the pay-TV broadcaster first-pick rights to broadcast a UCL game every Wednesday night throughout the tournament. It also covers second-tier Europa League and third-tier Conference League competitions.
Win-Win situation
Despite no Austrian teams making it through to this season’s UCL group stages - Red Bull Salzburg was eliminated by Belgium’s Club Brugge - there are individual players who could feature prominently for other clubs. These include David Alaba at Spanish giants Real Madrid, Marcel Sabitzer at Borussia Dortmund, and Konrad Laimer at Bayern Munich.
Roland Weißmann, director general at ORF, said:
"Cooperations in sports rights make sense when fans benefit from them – and that's exactly the case with this partnership with rights holder Canal+."
In terms of recent activity by ORF, last week saw another significant co-operative sub-licensing deal. The broadcaster and Red Bull-owned commercial network Servus TV agreed on a deal for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2028 UEFA European Championships. Austria is hoping to participate in both these national team tournaments, further increasing the relevance of these deals.
This extended partnership between Canal Plus and ORF promises to deliver comprehensive coverage of UCL action to Austrian soccer fans. It also sets a precedent for future collaborations in sports broadcasting rights that prioritize fan experience.
