As first reported by Gerry Smith at Bloomberg, CBS Sports (as CBS/Viacom/Paramount) renewed its English-language rights to broadcast the UEFA Champions League for the next six years. The deal also includes the rights to UEFA’s other club competitions, the Europa League and Europa Conference League.
The broadcaster fended off interest from Amazon. Amazon did secure a portion of the UK market rights for UEFA club competitions in a similar deal. The total price tag hovers around $1.5 billion. This number represents a substantial jump in a per-year basis compared to CBS’s previous deal with UEFA.
CBS’s renewal of the UEFA Champions League solidifies UEFA’s recent growth in the U.S. market via CBS. That growth stems from matches airing on CBS Sports Network, CBS over-the-air. Now, the broadcaster has eight more total years with the various properties, ending at the conclusion of the 2029/30 season. That is a full decade removed from when CBS assumed the rights. That started in the midst of the knockout stages of the 2019/20 campaign.
As detailed shortly, UEFA has many reasons to be pleased with CBS Sports. Also, UEFA had doubts about changing course yet again and how that may affect the property’s growth. Any association with Amazon and the Prime Video streaming service has upside. Yet, the potential of stalling the momentum UEFA with another broadcaster change was a risk. CBS is the safer call, and it is almost certainly the right call for UEFA.
Significance for Paramount+
Paramount+ relies on its UEFA club matches as an entry point for new sign-ups and sustained subscriptions. It is the one-stop-shop for soccer fans seeking content related to UEFA club competitions in English. This fuels the growth for the platform, while also providing fans a consistent service. There, fans of European soccer can not only find matches. Paramount+ also opens the door to highlight packages and magazine programs.
“UEFA has been a key driver for Paramount+ since our launch and we are thrilled to extend this successful partnership showcasing even more world-class soccer through the 2029-30 season, building on the incredible momentum we have created the past two years,” said Sean McManus, Chairman, CBS Sports. “UEFA is a perfect example of our differentiated strategy presenting marquee properties to drive and strengthen both our streaming and traditional linear businesses. This multiplatform approach allows us to leverage the power of Paramount Global to reach the broadest possible audience and elevate and grow the reach of UEFA in the United States. We look forward to continuing to provide soccer fans CBS Sports’ best-in class coverage that our viewers expect.”
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Champions League coverage in the U.S.
Prior to CBS’s takeover in 2019/20, the Champions League was a niche sporting property in the United States. Both FOX Sports and Turner Sports used the property to provide live programming for their cable channels on midweek afternoons. However, the average viewership and interest in the competition failed to grow. Meanwhile, general interest in soccer did rise during that period from 2009 to 2020 when FOX and Turner held the rights.
Back in 2009, when FOX took began its Champions League broadcasts, the Champions League was the premier soccer property on U.S. television. However, in the period that followed, the Premier League soared past UEFA competitions in terms of domestic interest. In fact, statistics argue MLS can surpass the Champions League in terms of American popularity, as well.
CBS’s approach to broadcasting the Champions League is clearly a winner. The broadcaster married the European expertise in covering the competition to an outstanding studio production. Studio crews are something CBS has a reputation of doing well regardless of sport. Plus, CBS’s commitment to putting knockout stage games on the over-the-air channel led to a huge surge in ratings. Moreover, it led to a general spike in conversation about the UEFA Champions League.
Additionally, CBS’ Sports Golazo! whip-around show took a successful American sports idea and applied it to UEFA. Fans can watch highlights from eight games as they happen, growing interest in the competition and sport for neutrals. Simply put, the CBS approach helped grow the competition and the visibility of other UEFA club competitions.
CBS renews UEFA Champions League deal
A large part of CBS’ success in broadcasting UEFA club competitions has been a combination of expertise in studio combined with edginess on air. For many viewers, CBS struck the right balance with this. It is something the broadcaster made unique to this property. CBS Sports covers other soccer properties it has the rights to differently. Other broadcasters do not operate in this way.
For example, ESPN has the reputation of applying an “ESPN treatment” to any property. It creates a consistent look and feel between everything it broadcasts.
The unique style of CBS’ approach to broadcasting UEFA club competitions may not be for everyone. Clearly, it pleases UEFA and yielded growth in interest within the United States.
The broadcaster now has eight more years to cement upward growth trajectory. Consequently, this benefits not only the sport, but CBS’s own platforms. Paramount+, CBS Sports Network and CBS over-the-air all can reap the rewards if this trend continues.
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locofooty
September 12, 2022 at 12:38 pm
Univision covering both LIVE windows per Matchday with OTA offerings:
Sporting vs. Spurs – UniMas
Bayern vs. Barcelona – Univision
Milan vs. Dinamo Zagreb – UniMas
Real Madrid vs. Leipzig – UniMas
LF
September 8, 2022 at 3:50 am
This is less than encouraging news. Overall I’m not pleased with CBS’ coverage of the Champions League. While it’s nice to see certain Champions League games on CBS, they put way too many games on Paramount+. Today, there was not one Champions League match featured either on CBS or the CBS Sports Network. My dad was looking for Champions League matches and could not find one because they all were on Paramount+. Once upon a time there would be at least two Champions League matches shown over ESPN or Fox channels during the group stage. Let me be clear, neither my dad and nor I will pay extra money to watch Champions League matches. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one feeling this way.
SteveK
September 8, 2022 at 7:06 am
You may not have as much company as you think LF, in these parts streaming services are embraced as our new overlords and it is seen as a huge plus to have all of the Champions League and Europa League matches live on a single streaming service for only $4.99 a month. It also serves as a stick to continually beat Comcast and the Premier League with.
Nice thing about all these streaming services is you are not locked into a long term contract like you were back in the day with most cable providers, you could have gotten your 1st month free for the Champions League then paid $4.99 for the 2nd month, taking you to the end of the group stages and then quit, only to resubscribe next spring for 2-3 months and then quit again.
dave
September 8, 2022 at 9:38 am
@SteveK, your second paragraph is, to me, a great feature of streaming. Sign-up takes a few minutes to set a username, password, and payment method. Term, price, and feature options are clearly outlined. Cancelling takes a few seconds if it no longer provides value. Reactivating, if and when desired, takes a few seconds. Night and day compared to similar tasks with a utility, cable company, mobile phone provider, etc.
Azer
September 8, 2022 at 12:53 pm
@SteveK You are missing the point. I’m sure LF’s father can afford to pay $4.99 a month or even more than that. The price is not the point in this conversation.
I’m sure his father pays close to $200 a month for cable/internet like a lot of people do which includes CBS & CBSSN. LF’s father should be able to watch the UCL, UEL & UCL by signing in using his credentials instead of paying additional money for Paramount+
TUDN always shows 2 games in Spanish on TV. The question is why CBS Sports is not doing the same.
Mercator
September 8, 2022 at 3:02 pm
It’s not additional money, no one is forcing you to get cable with no Champions league. The Champions League is all on Paramount+, at $5 a month.
locofooty
September 9, 2022 at 9:26 am
add Europa League, Conference league, Serie A, Argentina, Brasil, Concacaf tournaments, Asian confed tournaments. For $5 a month…or free with other subscriptions such as T-Mobile, Walmart+
LF
September 8, 2022 at 11:48 pm
@Azer Thank you…you perfectly understood my point.
My Dad has DirecTV. Once upon a time, he was able to watch any Champions or Europa League match through ESPN’s and later Fox’s arrangement with DirecTV. He’s a fan of other sports, particularly basketball and football. He also watches news and classic movies. It’s a hefty fee, but his DirecTV package covered everything he’s interested in. In a span of a few years he went from being able to view any Champions or Europa League match to not having a single match available to him. Needless to say, he’s not happy. From his perspective, he’s being forced to spend extra money just to watch these matches.
I have YouTube TV, which has a very good sports package. When I initially subscribed to YouTube TV, I was able to at least watch Champions League matches on the Fox Networks. Not that long ago YouTube TV was $50. In their last round of negotiations Viacom, which owns CBS, apparently issued an ultimatum to YouTube TV…either add channels such as Nickelodeon, MTV and VH1 to its basic tier or channels such as CBS and CBS Sports Network will not be available on YouTube TV. YouTube TV really had no choice…CBS has the rights to NFL games and some Super Bowls…so they yielded. Because of this, costs increased $15 on YouTube TV. For the record, I could not care less about channels such as Nickelodeon, VH1 and MTV. More importantly, whenever CBS decides to place all its Champions League matches on Paramount+, I can’t view any Champions League matches on YouTube TV.
Hopefully folks now understand why my dad and I have taken such a dim view of Paramount+.
SteveK
September 9, 2022 at 8:51 am
LF, I say this with the kindest intentions, but I think you’d be better off trying to be more nimble and less like a Luddite. The media landscape, including sports, has been evolving and changing for many years and you can either keep up and adapt on the fly or keep your head stuck in the sand. It’s got to be like 10 years ago but whoever was the boss of Netflix at the time came out and said something like Netflix needed to become HBO faster than HBO can become us. That always struck me. There was a time, long ago in a galaxy far away, when Netflix had everything and all you needed to do was subscribe to Netflix and you could watch seemingly everything. Guess what, times were changing, rights fees and deals were changing, Amazon and lots of nascent streamers were popping up, and they all needed movies, tv shows and sports which was going to keep driving prices up. Media companies merged in order to acquire more content. Netflix realized they had to get subscribers hooked on their own high quality shows, HBO-like shows, to retain them rather than hope to keep them hooked the way they had been doing, by having the deepest catalog. They knew they weren’t going to be to afford that. Times were changing.
That’s what you are ignoring when you complain about the DirecTV or YouTube TV package not being as all inclusive or offering as much value to you as they once did years ago. Embrace change, add, subtract and change subscriptions to better meet your needs. Azer comes across as clueless as you but he does get something right, when he says that price is not the point in this conversation. The ultimate point is whether a streamer or service has great content, content you deem worth paying for. If it does, then go get it and when it no longer does drop your subscription.
You may take a dim view of Paramount+ others here may take a dim view of Peacock or ESPN+ but those are not reflective of reality, we are still in a phase where companies with streaming services all trying to figure out how to survive, how to grow subscriptions, how to merge and how best to go direct to consumer. Some of those companies aren’t ready to wean you off the cable bundle entirely, which means you likely will have to juggle more than a few balls to get the content that you think is worth paying for. The only unrealistic expectation is that there shouldn’t be change.
Azer
September 9, 2022 at 10:16 pm
@SteveK If I am clueless, what does that make you. I made several good points, so did LF, you didn’t address any of them, not one instead you went on a rant.
LF
September 10, 2022 at 8:58 pm
You completely missed the point of my last post. My stance is based on principle. My last post explains why I am taking that position. I am not going to reward Viacom…which owns CBS, CBS Sports Network and Paramount+…for their greed. I never stated I will not watch Champions League matches. I stated I am not going to pay for Paramount+ to watch Champions League matches.
dave
September 9, 2022 at 10:53 am
@LF, if you are venting, fair enough. Many sports fans have interests similar to what you describe. The sports rights landscape is undergoing significant and rapid change, leading many of us to evolve our viewing habits. Trends are unfavorable for the legacy model where most sports were available in one place for one monthly fee:
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* Thursday Night Football (NFL) will be exclusive to Prime Video (unless your local team is playing, then it is OTA)
* The new Big Ten deal will have exclusive games on Peacock and Paramount+
* MLS will be exclusive to Apple next year, perhaps with a few linear simulcasts
* About half of EPL is exclusive to Peacock
* Liga MX recently added ViX+ exclusive games
* MLB has games exclusive to Apple and Peacock
* NHL has games exclusive to ESPN+/Hulu
* Etc.
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As @SteveK noted, you have the option to watch every 2022 UCL group stage game live in English for a total outlay of $5-$10 (depends on free trial length when you sign up). YTTV and DTV both have Univision/UniMas IIRC so you have an option to watch some UCL live in Spanish at no added cost. Golazo show is also an option on CBSSN
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I suspect knockouts may be heavier on CBS linear since ratings were strong last year
LF
September 10, 2022 at 9:21 pm
Thanks for the info. I’m curious about the American sport fan reaction to this streaming arrangement for both the Big Ten Network and Thursday Night Football. Will they refuse to pay for events on this streaming services? If enough consumers do not pay, this arrangement will be changed.
dave
September 8, 2022 at 10:00 am
@LF, if not paying for UCL streaming is a bright line, there are options to lawfully watch a good portion of UCL group stage live:
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* CBSSN – often carries Golazo Show, a fun whip-around format to stay up with goals, big chances, cards, etc.
* Univision/UniMas – have been showing a game OTA (many cable packages that have CBSSN have these channels also) for each of the early and late UCL windows – e.g., PSG-Juventus
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If you or your dad want to try either, they will be in use for UEL today. UniMas will show Manchester United-Real Sociedad in the second window while CBSSN plans over 5 hours of coverage (likely pre-game, Golazo window 1, Golazo window 2, post-game)
LF
September 10, 2022 at 9:09 pm
Thank you for the info. It’s certainly appreciated. Unfortunately, my dad prefers to watch a match as a whole instead of the “whip-around” treatment. As a soccer fan, you know it’s difficult to follow a single match in that fashion . Who is having a good match? Who is not playing well? What is the strategy that each team is employing? Who are they attacking? My dad is a former coach and is very good at picking up such details.
Buckles
August 20, 2022 at 4:58 am
This is good news. After the Turner fiasco, cbs really stabilized the coverage and did a nice job. I was very impressed that they put matches on CBS. It’s great to see their commitment even though I’m not crazy about Paramount +
greg
August 20, 2022 at 2:42 am
Bravo. They’ve been doing a great job, mostly. The only tweaks needed are cutting down on the bro banter between Richards and Carragher and reigning in Nico Cantor a bit too. And yeah, make sure Abdo stays, she’s among the best football studio hosts I’ve seen.
Eplnfl
August 19, 2022 at 9:31 pm
Dating myself but I miss the days that ESPN covered the CL. I have a subscription to Paramount because of its soccer coverage but I feel they have a long way to go make me feel comfortable with their broadcast. Given the length of the contract they will have time to develop an attractive show.
jason
August 20, 2022 at 8:28 am
Ha Ha talk about dating oneself. I miss the low key production values of the English Premier league games when it was on Fox Sports World/Soccer channel. At least the EFL on ESPN+ has a similar feel to that today.
Nosferatu
August 19, 2022 at 4:44 pm
Now let’s hope they can institute live game DVR controls sooner than later, and start figuring out how to get replays up more quickly. It seems some of that lag time might be because they remove the halftime show (and don’t include pre- and post-game coverage), but really, I’d prefer to have the option to watch that stuff anyway.
dave
August 19, 2022 at 5:04 pm
I do not watch replays, but it is very weird to me that they are not instantaneous. Even as a stopgap, an intern could record the live feed, pausing the recording if there are things (pregame, halftime, etc.) to exclude. Technology should be able to do that automatically. Maybe there is also a commercial reason (encourage as many as possible to watch live)?
UnitedFan 3478
August 19, 2022 at 3:38 pm
Will CBS get the UEFA National Teams too? Nobody is pleased with how Fox is treating them
jason
August 19, 2022 at 1:51 pm
It appears the major club competitions is set in the USA for a good few years now
ESPN has Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, and English FA/EFL
NBC has English Premier League
CBS has Uefa/Europe, Scotland, and Italy
Appls has MLS
jason
August 19, 2022 at 8:58 pm
Youtube has Russia. And Eleven Sports has Norway, Denmark, and other even smaller leagues. I mention these because I do catch them on occassion. Plus if your wallet is stretched to pa for any streaming services and I dont blame ya…you can at least go to these for full matches.
Bram Weiser
August 19, 2022 at 12:52 pm
It’s interesting that this figure met, but didn’t exceed, the reported minimum guarantee from Relevent Sports ($250M) to be the ones organizing the bidding for these rights (that is, unless Spanish rights were part of that guarantee, too, though I don’t know if they were).
SteveK
August 19, 2022 at 3:13 pm
The Athletic reports Spanish rights were not included, so my suspicion is CBS was willing to meet but not exceed the 250M guarantee Relevant promised to UEFA, so whatever Relevant sells the Spanish rights for is their profit.
Anthony
August 19, 2022 at 12:46 pm
It seems like leagues and competitions, rightly, place a premium on having access to broadcast tv windows. Premier League has NBC on Saturdays, and Champions League benefited from being on big CBS. I wonder how important that draw will be long term. Until something changes I don’t see Amazon, or basically a streaming only approach like ESPN+ seems to be taking, really being competitive.
SteveK
August 19, 2022 at 3:21 pm
Anthony, good point, when I read this it seemed pretty clear to me UEFA dangled the 6 year window because they wanted a long term marketing commitment and a partner to help keep raising awareness, but they also valued a linear component just like the Premier League has with NBC games on Saturday. Paramount+ with the option of key games on CBS was a perfect fit, especially since CBS had done so well with their first year of the product.
dave
August 19, 2022 at 4:56 pm
@Anthony, interesting observation, and consistent with the recently signed Big Ten deal. Big Ten football will have noon to midnight OTA on FOX then CBS then NBC most Saturdays. Big Ten was fine losing ESPN and seemed not to want to be siloed on Apple or Amazon with likely lower viewership. Landscapes and perspectives on OTA may evolve over time, just as a decade ago it was almost a must to be on ESPN for visibility
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I am very happy CBS got this renewal. They are doing terrific with UCL/UEL. I prefer consistency with a strong partner rather than rights changing hands every few years. I am up to my eyeballs in streaming subscriptions and glad I do not need to add yet another
Dstorm
August 19, 2022 at 12:15 pm
Maybe they’ll bring back the UEFA Champions League highlight show as part of the new agreement. Disappointed when they stopped posting this to Paramount Plus.
Bram Weiser
August 19, 2022 at 12:48 pm
@Dstorm I remember seeing “Matchnight” highlight shows on CBS Sports Network, even this past season, albeit at (sometimes) peculiar days/hours (like Friday Mornings, say). Still, they WERE being aired, but I can’t speak to what might, or might not, have been shown on Paramount+.
uefa dot tv has Matchnight
August 19, 2022 at 2:34 pm
@Bram Weiser:
uefa dot tv has Matchnight. Free streaming worldwide with no restrictions
Hans
August 19, 2022 at 11:53 am
Thanks for the additional information as well as your take on this deal, which I largely agree with. The brilliant idea of a London studio plus knowledgeable pundits whose analysis is most of the time spot on.
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As already someone mentioned by someone else pay Kate Abdo what she is asking as well as Henry, Carragher plus the stadium personnel. When comparing that to the EPL on Peacock only Rebecca can be on equal footing, but Robbie Earl & Tim Howard as pundits, PLEASE find someone else. This may be difficult because of where the NBC studio is located.
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Again the Athletic stated that the previous price was 100m per season and it increased to 250m per season a 150% increase. Now keeping my fingers crossed that my yearly add free subscription will not increase by 150%.
Michael
August 19, 2022 at 1:14 pm
@Hans. I would lock up the $49.99 or $99.99 annual fee in now. CBS has stepping up the money they spend on sports. In addition their re-ups on PGA, and NFL in 2021…they just re-upped on the afore mentioned UCL and Big Ten football and basketball at at pretty big increase. I got a year free with T-Mobile in June. I am going to guess that by the time my free year ends in June 2023 the prices would have gone up unless you are already a member and get grandfathered in.
SteveK
August 19, 2022 at 3:25 pm
Yes, it makes sense to lock into that $49.99 per year package now while it is still available especially because they changed the schedule, you can’t do the pay for 3 months and then drop, wait 2 months then resubscribe for 3 months anymore
Hans
August 19, 2022 at 3:53 pm
My add free year sub will renew September 1st for $99.99 😀
locofooty
August 19, 2022 at 4:03 pm
@Michael, that T-Mobile deal is sweet! They’ve added VIX+ for a year free.