UEFA awarded CL rights to Canal , RTE and Setanta

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UEFA announced that 112 UEFA Champions League matches per season are to be shown in France by the pay broadcaster Canal during the 2006-2009 seasons. The matches not included the free-to-air rights, which were already granted to TF1. In addition to live matches, Canal will have the exclusive rights to all highlights and magazine programmes. Commenting on the Canal deal, UEFA’s CEO Lars-Christer Olsson said: “We are happy to continue to work with our established broadcast partner Canal , and are pleased that the Canal channels will take the UEFA Champions League to so many French pay TV homes.”

the Champions League rights in the Republic of Ireland has been awarded to free-to-air operator RTE and pay-television broadcaster Setanta Sports. RTE will show two live matches per week - the first-choice game on both Tuesday and Wednesday. They will also broadcast highlights and magazine programmes. Setanta has been awarded the rights to other live matches, plus highlights and magazine programmes. As a result, the Irish TV3 national commercial TV station will not continue as a Champions League broadcaster beyond 2006. RTE is Ireland's state broadcaster and is UEFA's current broadcast partner for Wednesday-night games. It is also the country's largest and most-watched sports channel and a committed supporter of the Champions League. "On the one hand, we're disappointed that TV3 won't be continuing as a UEFA Champions League broadcast partner beyond 2006, and we thank them for their dedication and professionalism through six seasons," said Olsson. "However, we now look forward to working with RTE and Setanta, who will ensure that the Champions League will continue to flourish in Ireland." TV3 has accused state broadcaster RTE of “blatant abuse” of taxpayers’ money by using license fee funding for ‘programming that would otherwise be provided for free by TV3 and others. V3’s Managing Director, Rick Hetherington, said: “TV3 is aware of the overall commercial value of Champions League and understands that the amount bid by RTE far exceeded this value. TV3 has no alternative but to believe that RTE used the license fee to secure these rights. The use of state aid is at the heart of TV3’s complaint to the EU Commission, which has already issued a preliminary ruling commenting negatively on the current state aid funding of RTE.”