Portuguese network SportTV CEO Bessa Tavares said that the network "secured the media rights" to the UEFA Champions League and Europa League until '18, according to LUSA. Tavares: "SportTV has all the [media rights] for the Champions games, including the RTP [online streaming], of which we're also transmitting. ... Now we can transmit all of it, including the opening game." Tavares added that the rights SportTV has for the Champions League and Europa League "are for our subscribers," saying that "it is 'premium' content, and the Champions is a 'premium period' of time." One innovation of SportTV's accrual of the media rights is that Portugal "will be 'the first country in which the Champions' anthem will have a Portuguese version." Until now, the "three languages in which the anthem has been sung" are German, English and French. Tavares added, "We requested the approval to have a version in Portuguese and this version was approved. We're going to do a campaign [with the anthem]." SportTV "did not reveal the amount paid for the rights, but it referenced 'significant figures'" (LUSA, 4/13).
