Next season’s Champions League football matches will be shown on SBS, Dutch media say on Friday. Media company Sanoma and its Dutch broadcasting subsidiary are now in ‘exclusive negotiations’ over the three-year contract, the NRC says, quoting sources close to the process.

SBS operates three commercial television channels in the Netherlands: family broadcaster SBS6, Net 5 and Veronica, which focuses on young men.

Public broadcaster Nos, which has shown the tournament since its inception in 1992, did not take part in the bidding, citing government spending cuts. Nos still has the contract for Eredivisie highlights.

RTL, which had also shown interest in the Champions League, is likely to keep the rights to the Europa League, the NRC says.

Sanoma and SBS are also buying the digital and mobile rights to the Champions League, which means they can be shown on its popular news website nu.nl.