ITV and BSkyB have finally concluded a new three-year deal to continue sharing UK TV rights to the Uefa Champions League football competition.
The new contract with Champions League rights holder Uefa, which was expected to be sewn up as long ago as May, will see ITV continuing to broadcast two live matches on Tuesday nights from September 2006 to May 2009.
BSkyB's Sky Sports channels will carry on transmitting the remaining six Tuesday Champions League fixtures, plus all eight Wednesday night matches, via its red-button interactive service.
And for the first time, ITV and Sky Sports will provide live internet streaming of the Champions League matches they are televising.
As part of the deal, ITV also has an option to broadcast coverage of Tuesday matches featuring Scottish clubs.
"This is a terrific result for ITV1 and ITV's digital channels - both will show live Tuesday evening Champions League action throughout the competition as well as the final," said the ITV controller of sport, Mark Sharman.
Vic Wakeling, the managing director of Sky Sports, said: "The digital technology we have developed is unique and has worked superbly. Our subscribers have told us how much they appreciate the power of choice and the ability to switch between eight live matches at any time."
ITV and Sky will be hoping an English team can repeat Liverpool's Champions League final triumph in May, which attracted a peak audience of nearly 15 million viewers on ITV1.
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