Baltic broadcaster Viasat, owned by Swedish media conglomerate Modern Times Group, has agreed a six-year deal with the TrioBet Baltic League starting from the 2009/2010 season.
The Baltic League, a domestic club competition involving the top football teams from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, will be expanded to 16 teams from next season.
Under the terms of the deal, Viasat will show live and exclusive coverage of the league in all three Baltic languages on its new premium sports channel Viasat Sport Baltic. Viasat will additionally broadcast a highlights magazine from each match day, available on Viasat Free TV channels in all three countries respectively.
“We are absolutely delighted to have secured this TV deal,” said Christian Happel, CEO of the Baltic League. “The long-term commitment from both sides shows the belief and willingness to develop this competition and gives us the security to plan ahead for the future. It will raise the awareness of the TrioBet Baltic League massively with fans and the media alike and of course on the commercial side we are now able to offer potential sponsors a real pan-Baltic exposure with a high quality product.”
Karolis Dapkevičius, Viasat’s head of sport pay-TV in the Baltic region, added: “The Baltic Leagues are among the most important assets for our channel. We see truly great potential in the TrioBet Baltic League and want to play our active part in developing the competition for the long term”
Viasat Sport Baltic also broadcasts the UEFA Champions League, the Ice Hockey World Championships, Euroleague basketball and ATP tennis.
