[michael21]

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/b...036241.article

ITV has swiped free-to-air UK broadcast rights to the African Cup of Nations from the BBC.

The football tournament kicks off later this month and the commercial broadcaster has finalised a deal with EuroSport to air live coverage and highlights on ITV4.

The agreement - first reported by Broadcast - will see the digital channel and itv.com air the Ivory Coast v Burkina Faso group game, as well as three clashes in the latter stages of the competition, including the final. ITV4 will also broadcast daily highlights packages at 10pm.

Previous free-to-air rights belonged to the BBC, which during the last tournament in 2010 aired coverage of the semi finals and finals across its red button service, BBC3 and BBC2.

The 2010 African Cup of Nations final between Ghana and Egypt scored an audience of 1.22m (6.74%) for BBC2, while BBC3 secured 577,900 (2.17%) viewers for the Algeria v Egypt semi final.

There is usually significant British interest in the competition because a number of high profile African players ply their trade in the Premier League.

This year alone, league leaders Manchester City are set to lose the likes of Yaya and Kolo Toure for a number of weeks while they represent the Ivory Coast.

The deal is the latest sports rights coup for ITV4 after it snatched French Open tennis from the BBC late last year, as well enhanced Europa League rights from Channel 5.

The African Cup of Nations - which is being hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea - could also help ITV4 match the tough comparatives of last year, when its highlights of the Ashes helped it to strong ratings in January.

EuroSport, the pan-European sports network owned by French broadcaster TF1, holds the UK pay-TV rights to the African Cup of Nations.

This is good news