Press Release: EBU acquires UEFA EURO 2016™ media rights in 26 European countries
24 June 2015
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has reached agreement with the Union des Associations Européennes de Football (UEFA) for exclusive media rights on all platforms in 26 countries* to the UEFA EURO 2016™ in France, from 10 June to 10 July 2016.
This new contract underlines the strong, long-standing relationship between the EBU and UEFA. With this important deal added to the existing European Qualifiers™ and FIFA World Cup™ agreements, the EBU and its Members have completed the acquisition of the media rights for a full four-year (2014-2018) National Team Football cycle.
EBU Member free-to-air coverage will mean that viewers from most European territories will be able to follow the complete story of their national teams from qualification to final tournament.
EBU Members will substantially increase their coverage to promote and support the new competition format, which has expanded from 16 to 24 teams and from 31 to 51 matches.
Additionally, another agreement was reached beyond the 26 countries for the radio coverage of UEFA EURO 2016™ and other UEFA events**, enabling EBU radio Members to offer these events to European listeners.
EBU President Jean-Paul Philippot expressed his satisfaction with the outcome.
"I am very pleased that once again, we have been able to reach an agreement with UEFA for UEFA EURO 2016™ and I am confident that our viewers will enjoy a very exciting event in its new format," he said. "This deal provides UEFA with a strong and reliable broadcast commitment from EBU Members and reaffirms our ambition and dedication to showcase all major events on public service media."
The EBU has agreements with 24 international federations including 30 Olympic sports and disciplines, ensuring that EBU Members can offer their audiences a wide variety of free-to-air sports programming.
*The 26 countries
Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan (free-to-air rights for 23 matches only), Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, FYR Macedonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland.
**Other UEFA events
UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2015, UEFA European Under-19 Championship 2015, UEFA European Women’s Under-19 Championship 2015, UEFA Women’s Champions League Finals 2015 & 2016.