Euro 2004 to be free on terrestrial television

UEFA have sold the television rights to the 2004 European Championship finals to terrestrial broadcasting companies.

A European consortium has been granted the contract with coverage set to be free on existing state broadcasters for the Portuguese finals. An influence on the decision was the lack of pay-per-view and cable companies in Portugal to mount a bid. This allowed the TEAM group, London based Octagon and Kirch Media to bid as rivals to the terrestrial group of EBU broadcasters but with the World Cup tv deals heading for pay-per-view contracts UEFA have resisted the urge to sell of their tournament to media companies.

The 2004 finals may well be the last in their existing format with FIFA's total revision of fixture lists all over the world due for release in 2005. The Euro finals may soon be used to determine World Cup qualifying every two years.