Live UEFA Champions League matches will have a new home in the UK from the 2027/28 season.
Paramount has secured a four-year deal to broadcast most matches, alongside Amazon which will show one each Tuesday. It could mean Paramount+ becomes an essential platform for football fans.
Paramount has just pulled off something of a shock when it comes to European football – it has secured the broadcast rights to the UEFA Champions League from the 2027/28 season.
That means TNT Sports will lose the live TV and streaming rights in the UK after the 206/27 final. It could also mean that Paramount+ could become yet another essential streaming platform for footy fans to subscribe to.
That's because Amazon will retain the rights to screen one Champions League match each Tuesday night, while Sky has won the bid to show UEFA Europa and Conference League matches from the same period.
TNT Sports will continue to show live Premier League football matches alongside Sky. So, to watch all live men's football from 2027, you'll need Sky, TNT Sports, Amazon Prime Video and, likely, Paramount+ – although it's not yet confirmed whether Paramount plans to add it to the existing streaming service or launch something separate.
It could get even more expensive to watch football
To throw another spanner in the works, Paramount is thought to be one of the bidders in the takeover auction of Warner Bros. Discovery – the owner of TNT Sports and Discovery+. So it might end up remaining in some form on that network and streaming service.
However, Sky's owner Comcast is also interested in buying Warner, as is Netflix. If the latter turns out to win the bid, that means you could see live football appearing on TNT Sports/Discovery+, Sky/Now, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+ and Netflix. And that's just in the UK.
Considering each of those requires a paid subscription, prepare to raid the bank or cut down on your live viewing.
In addition, according to the BBC, Paramount has paid well in excess of the near-£1bn deal struck with BT/TNT Sports during the last Champions League rights auction. So we can likely expect prices to go up too.
And just when we thought streaming services were making life easier.
