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Paramount is in advanced talks to acquire the rights to screen most Champions League football games in the UK, in a big bet on sports rights outside the US.
The US media group has made an unexpected bid for the rights to show elite men’s games across multiple European markets in a deal expected to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds a year.
Paramount had been picked as preferred bidder for the rights to show most of the games in the UK and Germany from 2027 to 2031, said two people close to the situation, and is also in talks to acquire rights in other European markets. Amazon’s Prime Video was set to retain first pick for Tuesday matches in the UK and Wednesdays in Germany and Italy, the people said.
The deals will be the first major push into European football for the US company, which was earlier this year acquired by Skydance and RedBird Capital.
Amazon, Paramount and Uefa declined to comment. Relevent Football Partners, which manages the sale of the rights on behalf of UC3, the joint venture between football clubs and Uefa, declined to comment.
The move has shocked existing rights holders, which include Warner Bros Discovery’s TNT Sports in the UK. Paramount is among the bidders to acquire WBD, which still holds a portfolio of UK rights such as FA Cup, rugby and Premier League games.
One person close to the auction said Paramount had offered a “significant premium” to other bids in a signal of its ambitions to secure European football games. Under the previous three-year deal, TNT paid £305mn a season for the UK rights. In total, including Amazon, the existing UK rights were worth about £1.4bn.
It is not clear whether the media group will use its Paramount+ streaming service only to show games or whether it will also put matches on Channel 5, the terrestrial broadcaster it owns in the UK.
Paramount also screens the Champions League in the US after agreeing a $1.5bn deal in 2022 to extend its coverage.
Its US coverage is widely known across the globe because of a punditry team that includes former Arsenal forward Thierry Henry, former England players Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards as well as sports presenter Kate Scott.
The Uefa Women’s Champions League rights are sold separately. In May, Disney+ agreed to broadcast the competition from 2025-26 to 2029-2030.