CBS scores the rights to stream the UEFA Champions League from 2021

CBS and UEFA Champions League

CBS has confirmed it has scored a major win for its sports coverage offering on CBS All Access.

Deadline reported last week that during CBS’s third-quarter results call last Tuesday, CBS acting CEO Joe Ianniello announced that the company has secured the rights to air UEFA Champions League football beginning in 2021. The deal covers more than 400 matches a year, spread across nine months. All matches will be available to stream exclusively on CBS All Access in the United States, with some matches also being selected to air on broadcast television.

According to Deadline, the Champions League is Europe’s top soccer cup competition. CBS beat out several other American broadcasters to win the exclusive rights. Deadline notes that this is the first time CBS has had exclusive sports broadcast rights; while it currently streams NFL games, those rights are shared with other networks. The UEFA Champions League rights were previously owned by TNT and Univision; Univision has retained the rights to the Spanish-language broadcasts.

Iannello said of the deal, “Soccer fans know these rights represent some of the most prestigious and popular soccer tournaments in the world, so we couldn’t be more pleased that we’ve won this hotly contested process.” The deal is expected to drive subscriptions to CBS All Access, which is on a tight timeline to deliver 25 million subscribers (combined with Showtime) by 2022. The most recent confirmed figures were around 8 million subscribers for CBS All Access and Showtime combined, as CNBC reported back in February. Ianniello declined to comment on current subscriber numbers in the call.

According to the Deadline piece, CBS is currently “finalizing contracts” and expected to come out with more details in the coming weeks.