RTL said that UEFA, European soccer's governing body, had approved the long-anticipated agreement which will see the German rights to Europe's showcase club competition split between RTL and pay-TV service Premiere World.
The deal is reportedly worth some 220 million marks ($107.4 million) per season through 2002/2003, of which RTL is expected to pay just over 50 percent. An RTL spokeswoman declined to confirm the media reports on the financial terms of the deal.
Pay-TV service Premiere World will broadcast Tuesday matches live while RTL shows game highlights. Wednesday matches will be shown live on RTL while Premiere offers a parallel broadcast on its digital service.
RTL will also broadcast the Champions League final in May.
RTL lost the rights to Champions League matches to small German channel TM3 last year. But after buying a stake in Premiere World from Germany's Kirch Gruppe, media tycoon and TM3 chief shareholder Rupert Murdoch agreed to sell the free-to-air rights back to RTL. Champions League broadcasts are already shared between pay-TV and free-to-air channels in England, France, Italy and Spain. Premiere World and RTL also split the German rights to Formula One motor racing broadcasts.
RTL is owned by European media group CLT-Ufa, a joint venture between German media giant Bertelsmann AG and Luxembourg-based holding company Audiofina.
Reuters
Germany's top television channel, RTL has bought the coveted free-to-air rights to Champions League soccer from September for the next three seasons.
