Friday, November 21, 2025 - TNT Sports will no longer hold the rights to broadcast Champions League football from 2027, with Paramount+ reportedly winning a major bidding battle to take over coverage of Europe’s premier club competition.
TNT, formerly BT Sport, has shown Champions League action
since 2015 after striking a £897million deal in 2013 to wrest the rights away
from Sky Sports. The channel has also covered the Europa League and later the
UEFA Conference League.
In 2022, TNT lost its exclusive grip on the Champions League
when Amazon Prime secured the rights to one game per week. But from 2027 the
broadcaster will lose the tournament completely, with multiple outlets
reporting that Paramount+ has secured a six-year deal.
Sources told The Telegraph the US-owned streaming platform
was a “knockout” bidder and paid “a very large premium” to beat TNT Sports. The
current package of Champions League rights is valued at nearly £3billion per
season.
Paramount already owns CBS Sports, which broadcasts the
Champions League in the United States with a presenting team led by Kate Abdo
alongside Micah Richards, Thierry Henry and Jamie Carragher.
The development is likely to mean fans will face yet another
subscription cost on top of Sky Sports, TNT, DAZN and Amazon. Netflix and
Disney+ were also said to have expressed interest, with Netflix buoyed by its
reach after broadcasting Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson last year and agreeing to
stream Paul vs Anthony Joshua this week.
According to The Telegraph, Paramount plans to make selected
matches available free-to-air via Channel 5, a subsidiary of the company, as
part of its push to expand its sports portfolio. Paramount+ has recently
acquired rights to UFC events as part of its wider investment strategy.
TNT Sports still holds Premier League rights until 2029 and
signed a new four-year FA Cup deal last year that ensures every third-round
match outside the 3pm blackout will be shown live.
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