US sports broadcaster ESPN has acquired rights for the Uefa Champions League European club football competition in a sublicensing deal with the Fox Sports Media Group division of the Fox network.
The deal will run for four years, from 2014-15 to 2017-18.
Under the agreement, ESPN has secured non-exclusive English-language rights for 68 group stage matches and exclusive Spanish-language rights for 72 games from the groups and knockout stages.
The Spanish-language rights will be exploited on ESPN Deportes, with the English-language coverage being shown on the ESPN3 online streaming platform.
Spanish-language ESPN Deportes will also show the Uefa Champions League final and the annual Uefa Super Cup. ESPN said that ESPN Deportes would alternate its coverage of these games with the Spanish-language Fox Deportes channel, which “will continue to carry these events in the 2014-15 and 2016-17 seasons.”
ESPN Deportes will also continue to serve as the exclusive Spanish-language broadcaster of the Uefa Europa League in the US through to the end of the 2017-18 season.
Live access to ESPN’s matches in English and Spanish will be available on the WatchESPN service via computers, smartphones, tablets and connected devices.