The successful conclusion of the renewal negotiations with Canal France International (CFI) for Sub-Saharan Africa, and with Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) mean that extensive terrestrial TV coverage of the IAAF’s premier competitions is guaranteed.
The IAAF World Athletics Series is already available to viewers in Sub-Saharan Africa via pay Satellite provided by Supersport. The new CFI agreement enhances this availability broadening the coverage in the region with the inclusion of 40 national ‘free-to-air’ broadcasters.
The deal with CFI covers all World Athletics Series events 2007/2009, as well as this year’s recently concluded IAAF World Athletics Final, Stuttgart, and the IAAF World Cup, Athens. Preliminary reports indicate that 80% of CFI partner broadcasters took coverage of these competitions, which for the IAAF is unprecedented.
With major discussions on-going in a number of other regions, the IAAF and Dentsu Inc. anticipate that the CFI and CMC deals will help to ensure that by the time of the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Osaka, Japan (25 Aug to 2 Sep 2007), the TV distribution and exposure of the IAAF World Athletics Series across the world will reach unprecedented levels, with the strong possibility of an increase on the 187 territories achieved for ‘HELSINKI 2005’.
