Channel 5 Snaps Up Champions League Qualifier

Channel 5 has secured the rights to show live coverage of Liverpool’s Champions league qualifying match tonight. ITV owns the rights to the main Champions league competition but not to the qualifiers.

Coverage of the match between Liverpool and Finnish Team, FC Haka, will begin at 6.30pm and run until 9pm, with the match itself due to kick-off at 7pm.

According to unofficial overnight figures Channel 5’s coverage of the Newcastle versus 1860 Munich match last week attracted an average of 1.2m viewers and 7% of the viewing share.

The decision to broadcast tonight’s game comes after veteran football commentator, John Motson, expressed fears that viewers would be subjected to “overkill coverage” following ITV’s decision to show almost three hours of English premiership football highlights on Saturday nights (see ITV Brings Sport To Saturday Evenings).

Channel 5: 020 7550 5555 www.channel5.co.uk

Subscribers can access further information on Channel 5 and other TV stations by selecting “Television” from the drop-down box at the top of this page.