MUMBAI: UEFA has awarded the media rights for the 2012-15 Uefa Champions League rights and 2012-15 Uefa Europa League in several markets.

In Greece, ERT and Nova have bagged the rights. Nova has also secured certain rights for the 2012-15 Uefa Europa League.

ERT has renewed its right to broadcast the best Uefa Champions League match each Wednesday, as well as highlights coverage of each match week on NET. This award of rights includes coverage of the Uefa Champions League Final and the Uefa Super Cup.

Pay-television operator Nova has acquired the remaining Uefa Champions League live matches and will broadcast six matches each night including the best Tuesday match on the novasports branded family of channels.

New for the 2012-15 rights cycle, Nova will broadcast live coverage - co-exclusively with ERT - of the Uefa Champions League Final. Nova will also ensure match night and match week highlights coverage throughout the season.

In addition, Nova was awarded the right to broadcast live coverage of all matches of the Uefa Europa League except the first pick of the match week. Showing five live matches each kick-off slot, Nova will allow Greek football fans to enjoy an increased choice of matches. Nova will also show highlights programmes each match night.

All above-mentioned rights have been granted on a platform-neutral basis, with the rights being broadcast via television, mobile and on Internet - on ert.gr and novasports.gr respectively.

In Portugal the 2012-15 Uefa Champions League media rights have gone to TVI and Sport TV. Commercial broadcaster TVI joins the Uefa Champions League family of broadcasters and will broadcast the best Tuesday match each match week. Should there be only one or no Portuguese team in the competition, TVI will broadcast the best match of the match week, in order to provide Portuguese football fans with the most relevant UEFA Champions League programming.

Pay television operator Sport TV has secured the rights to all remaining matches and will broadcast at least four live matches each match night across the Sport TV family of channels.

Both broadcasters will show the Uefa Champions League Final, the Uefa Super Cup as well as highlights on both nights. RTP was the incumbent rights holder.

Meanwhile in the UK, ITV and ESPN have got the 2012-15 Uefa Europa League media rights. ITV has acquired the right to broadcast the top two live matches each match week on ITV4 followed by a round-up of the match night?s key action. In addition, ITV4 will broadcast a full weekly highlights programme on Fridays each match week. Certain matches in the latter stages of the competition featuring local participation may be broadcast on ITV1.

ESPN has secured the rights to all remaining Uefa Europa League matches. ESPN will show at least one match per kick-off slot each match week as well as highlights on ESPN?s premium UK television channel.

All rights have been awarded on a platform neutral basis, allowing for ITV and ESPN to provide coverage across television, mobile and internet on itv.com and espn.co.uk respectively.

Uefa said, "Uefa is happy to renew its partnership with ITV and ESPN in the United Kingdom. These deals will further develop and promote the competition in the region by providing football fans throughout the UK with an extensive choice of coverage not only on television but also via online and mobile services."

ESPN has acquired all rights for the Uefa Champions League for exploitation across the three ESPN branded channels ESPN, ESPN Brasil and ESPN HD. As a minimum, ESPN will broadcast two live matches per matchnight on ESPN and ESPN Brasil, both on Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as the Final and the Uefa Super Cup. In addition to the live matches, one Wednesday highlights programme and four delayed matches will also be broadcast each match week.

All rights have been granted on a platform-neutral basis. Both broadcast partners will, therefore, exploit the rights via television, Internet - on esporteinterativo.com.br and espn.com.br - and on mobile.

Commenting on the award of these media rights in Brazil, Uefa said, "Uefa is happy to renew its partnerships with Esporte Interativo and ESPN. Both partners have proven their dedication and the extent of their commitment to Europe?s top tier football competition during this cycle and Uefa looks forward to continuing these successful relationships through to 2015."

This announcement concludes the sale of Uefa Champions League rights in Brazil.

MUMBAI: Why is our planet filled with such a bewildering diversity of mammals, reptiles, fish, birds, insects and plants?

Animal Planet?s new series, Mutant Planet, reveals how nature has shaped the eccentric animals together with the forces of nature and the magic of evolution. Mutant Planet reveals why nature allows existence of strange and bizarre animals and their patterns of behaviour to flourish through the miracle of natural selection. The series is the celebration of the power of evolution, an exploration of the forces that shape life in all in its unexpected glory.

The six-part series will air from 12- 17 September at 8 pm. The show combines traditional natural history filming with science programming. Viewers are transported to six strange worlds, where it seems as if nature has thrown the rule book out of the window. Each episode focuses on key animals in six very special regions of our planet and takes audiences on a journey of detection and discovery to understand the powerful forces that create the mysteries of evolution.

The show takes animal lovers through the fairytale archipelago with a turbulent geological past of New Zealand to the floating laboratory of Australia where the changing climate has triggered mutations in the animals. It explores Brazil?s ancient Cerrado grassland, Africa?s freshwater Great lakes, Madagascar - the land of lemurs and the bizarre Islands of Japan.

This series experiences and encodes the behaviour and genetic evolution of different creatures and tries to solve the jigsaw puzzle highlighting the power of evolution driving the exceptional adaptations. These animals keep the entire ecosystem in balance. The cast of characters is diverse and none behave as expected. It is interesting to see how animals find innovative ways to overcome periods of starvation.

One episode visits New Zealand. The country is a fairytale archipelago with a turbulent geological past. A land with creatures: flightless birds, night dwellers and even living fossils. Evolution has run wild on this isolated land, producing some of the world?s most unusual animals. It is home to misfits and marvels found nowhere else on the planet. Without the influence of land mammals, birds reign supreme, dominating every habitat. The massive mountain fortresses are ruled by alpine parrots, the rugged coastline teems with bizarre seabirds, and the primeval forests are home to birds that no longer fly.

Another episode looks at Australia which is a floating laboratory whose ancient geological past and changing climate have triggered mutations in the animals here, culminating in over 200 species of bizarre pouched marsupials, which are all equipped with astounding survival features. Almost half of Australia is desert. Few animals can survive here, but one marsupial calls it home - the iconic Red
Kangaroo. This creature is a pinnacle of evolution among marsupials, equipped with an arsenal of adaptations to survive the desert. From its giant hop to its unique reproductive strategy, Australia?s Red Kangaroo demonstrates the power of evolution to drive exceptional adaptations.