In a significant development that promises to reshape the UK’s football broadcasting landscape, the US media and entertainment giant Paramount Skydance has emerged as the highest bidder in a recent auction for the rights to broadcast most UEFA Champions League matches in the United Kingdom from 2027 through 2031. This major acquisition marks a major shake-up in the domestic rights market and signals a deepening American interest in European football ahead of next summer’s World Cup.
Paramount Skydance, a subsidiary of the broader Paramount+ streaming service which already holds Champions League rights in the United States, made the largest financial offer during this week’s auction process. Industry sources familiar with the tender revealed that Paramount’s bid was substantially higher than the current £1 billion annual fee paid by TNT Sports, which has held the rights since 2013, initially under the BT Sport brand. This successful bid is seen as a boost for UC3—a joint venture between UEFA and the European Club Association—and its new commercial rights distributor, Relevent Football Partners, a US-owned agency that replaced UEFA’s longstanding sales partner Team Marketing last year.
Paramount Skydance is headed by David Ellison, son of Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle and a prominent supporter of former US President Donald Trump. The company has been in the news recently for reportedly preparing a $71 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros Discovery, the parent company of TNT Sports. The outcome of this potential takeover could have significant implications for TNT Sports’ future as an independent brand. Regardless, TNT Sports, which has been a central figure in UK Champions League coverage for over a decade, bid to retain its rights but was ultimately unsuccessful. As a result, UK football fans will soon need an additional subscription to follow the Champions League, joining a growing list of rights holders that includes Paramount, TNT, Sky Sports, Amazon, and DAZN.
Under the terms of the new deal, Paramount will hold the rights to broadcast every Champions League game live in the UK, except for the “first pick” of Tuesday night matches. This portion of the schedule was auctioned separately to the five major European markets collectively for the first time. While no collective agreement was reached across all markets, Amazon Prime has secured the first pick of Tuesday fixtures in the UK, Germany, and Italy from 2027 onwards. Amazon’s success came despite stiff competition from rival streaming giants including Netflix and Disney+. Although Amazon will have priority choice over which Tuesday matches to broadcast, it will face restrictions on how many times it can feature each individual club.
In other European markets, Canal+ will retain exclusive coverage of all Champions League fixtures in France, while Spain’s Movistar has reportedly outbid Paramount to maintain its rights there. These outcomes reflect Paramount’s broader ambition to break more deeply into the European football market, an ambition that is clearly intensifying as American companies show growing interest in high-profile European competitions.
UEFA is understood to be confident that the overall value of the new broadcasting deals will represent a substantial increase over the current three-year cycle, which was worth approximately £2.9 billion per year. The auction was the first to be managed by Relevent Football Partners under the revamped UC3 joint venture, and it introduced significant changes to the way Champions League rights are sold. These include the introduction of a pan-European streaming package and an extension of the rights cycle from three to four years. The success of these reforms will likely be seen as a validation of UEFA’s recent overhaul of the Champions League format, which now features an extended league stage and a single, unified 36-team table.
While Paramount has yet to officially confirm the deal, another notable development came on the same day when Sky Sports announced it had secured exclusive UK rights to all 342 matches of the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League from 2027. This acquisition represents an additional blow to TNT Sports, which has lost both Champions League and secondary European competition rights. Jonathan Lich, Sky’s chief sports officer, expressed pride in bringing these prestigious European tournaments back to Sky customers, highlighting the exciting narratives and strong performances by English clubs in recent years.
In response to these shifting rights allocations, TNT Sports issued a statement acknowledging their decision not to match Paramount’s financial offer. The broadcaster emphasized its commitment to a sustainable business approach that balances financial prudence with customer interests. TNT Sports also reaffirmed its strong football portfolio, which includes Premier League coverage, the newly acquired Emirates FA Cup, and the Adobe Women’s FA Cup