Among the new three-year contracts, which run from the start of the 2003/04 season, the biggest news is that Sky Italia have been awarded the pay-TV rights in Italy.
Sky Italia will have the first and second choice of games on a Tuesday and the second choice on a Wednesday. They will also show all remaining matches live, as well as highlights programmes on both Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
Sky Italia was formed from the merger of Stream and TelepiC9. As a result of conditions imposed by the EC merger decision regarding Sky Italia, the term of this agreement will cover the 2003/2004 and 2004/2005 seasons only.
Free-to-air TV rights in Italy (the first choice of matches on Wednesday night, plus highlights programmes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays) have already been awarded to RTI Mediaset.
In Austria the free-to-air TV rights have been awarded to ORF, who will have the pick of the best live game each match week and will also show highlights on Tuesday and Wednesday.
In Portugal the free-to-air rights have been granted to RTP and the pay-TV rights to Sport TV.
RTP will broadcast the first pick live game each week and in addition will show a highlights programme on Wednesday evenings. RTP have been a partner of UEFA Champions League in Portugal since the start of the competition.
Sport TV, the only dedicated sports channel in Portugal, have been awarded the rights to all packages for pay-TV. Sport TV have previous UEFA Champions League broadcast experience as a result of their sub-licensing agreement with RTP during the previous contractual term.
Finally, in the Czech Republic, Czech TV have been granted the television rights for the Champions League in an agreement covering the 2003-2006 period.
Commenting on the finalisation of these agreements, UEFA CEO Gerhard Aigner, said: "We have now completed the television sales process in the major European countries and can be very pleased with the results in a challenging marketplace.
"The extensive overall coverage is a testimony to the strength of the competition and the general well-being of European football."
UEFA and its partnering agency TEAM Marketing have concluded the sales process for the next Champions League TV rights contracts after announcing new deals in Austria, Italy, Portugal and the Czech Republic.
