Canal+ to become exclusive UEFA club competition broadcaster in France

Vivendi-owned French broadcaster Canal+ has secured the exclusive rights to UEFA club competitions in the country.

The broadcaster has secured the rights for the three-year cycle from 2024-27 in a deal worth a reported €480 million per season.

Canal+ currently shares the rights with beIN. beIN shows the majority of matches, but Canal+ has first choice rights to 34 matches along with 16 UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League matches. 

The new deal however will see Canal+ pay a 25% premium over the existing deal in order to secure exclusivity. 

The Champions League will also expand in 2024, with the competition growing from 32 to 36 teams for a total of 550 matches per season. 

Maxime Saada, chairman of Canal+, said: “We are very pleased to acquire for three seasons, starting from the 2024/2025 season, the entire UEFA Champions League, the most prestigious European football competition, as well as the entire UEFA Europa League. and the UEFA Europa Conference League. We warmly thank UEFA and its President Aleksander Céferin for their renewed confidence and we salute the tremendous work carried out by this team. 

“It’s a great joy to be able to offer even more matches and entertainment to our subscribers, who largely support the UEFA Champions League and all of European football. They will thus benefit until 2026/2027 from the matches of the biggest French and European clubs, on all their screens thanks to Canal+.” 

The one caveat to Canal+’s exclusivity are rules surrounding the Champions League final, which is a protected event in France and must be shown live on FTA TV. Those FTA rights are currently held by TF1, but M6 has secured the final from 2024 for just under €4 million per season.

Meanwhile in the UK, UEFA has split the rights between incumbent rights holder BT Sport and Amazon while the BBC will show a weekly highlights show for the first time.