Football fans won’t have to pay for subscriptions to watch the next two European Championships after the BBC and ITV struck a broadcasting deal.
The broadcasters announced on Wednesday that the 2024 and 2028 Euros will be shown on free-to-air TV. The next edition of the tournament will take place in Germany from June 14 to July 14, 2024, while the hosts and format of the following competition are yet to be decided.
BBC and ITV split the coverage of the most recent tournament, which saw England beaten on penalties by Italy in the final at Wembley, and have agreed to maintain the status quo. They will split the broadcasting rights equally between them, both show highlights and cover the final.
"The BBC has proven time and again that we have the ability to bring the biggest sporting events to the widest audience," said Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport. "The previous Uefa European Championships were a huge success so we're delighted that we've completed this deal for the next two tournaments that we hope will provide even more memorable moments for viewers."
ITV director of sport Niall Sloane said: "This deal keeps the Euros available on free-to-air television for viewers for the coming years.
"Having delivered the biggest ever UK single channel football audience of 27.6 million at last year's Euros, for England's semi-final victory over Denmark, we're looking forward to bringing to the widest audiences the very best coverage of tournaments that have such broad appeal."
England’s heartbreak against Italy drew in a peak audience of 31 million on July 11, 2021. Nearly half of the nation tuned in to watch the match, which was broadcast concurrently on the BBC and ITV.
UEFA said that 328m people watched the final altogether worldwide, with the tournament receiving 5.2bn cumulative views globally with an average of 100m per match.
Gareth Southgate’s side were beaten 3-2 on penalties following a 1-1 draw across 120 minutes. Bukayo Saka, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford all missed from the spot to hand Italy the trophy.
Germany will host the 17th edition of the tournament in 18 months’ time across 10 venues in Berlin, Munich, Dortmund, Cologne, Hamburg, Leipzig, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen and Dusseldorf. The final will be played at Berlin’s Olympiastadion on July 14.
