Pan-regional broadcaster Eurosport has sealed a raft of new rights deals in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Belgium and Singapore encompassing football, tennis, golf and rugby union.
The deals have been signed as the company continues to roll out its localisation strategy in order to provide a more relevant experience to viewers.
Discovery-owned Eurosport has secured exclusive television and digital rights to football’s Uefa Europa League through deals covering Sweden, Norway and Denmark as well as Singapore, for the 2015-16 to 2017-18 seasons. In Scandinavia, live coverage of the competition will also be broadcast on Discovery’s channels.
Two matches will be broadcast live on each match day on Eurosport Norway, Eurosport Denmark and Eurosport 2 in Sweden and up to two matches will be shown live on Discovery’s channels – Kanal 9 in Sweden, MAX in Norway, 6’eren and Canal 9 in Denmark. Additional matches will be available on Dplay, Discovery’s premium video streaming service, which will show about 100 matches per season.
In Singapore, the Europa League acquisition follows that of the Champions League premium package signed by Eurosport in April. Eurosport will broadcast two live matches from Uefa’s secondary club competition every match day with all additional matches available to viewers online through OTT services.
In addition, the Italian and French top-tier football leagues, Serie A and Ligue 1, will also be shown exclusively on Eurosport and Eurosport 2 in the Netherlands from the 2015-16 to the 2017-18 seasons. The deal includes television and digital rights for both competitions as well as for the Coupe de la Ligue, French football’s league cup competition, the Emirates Cup in London and a package of other pre-season friendly matches.
In Belgium, Eurosport has completed the Grand Slam of tennis rights by adding Wimbledon to the three tournaments that are already part of its portfolio – the Australian Open, French Open and US Open. The deal includes exclusive television and digital rights for the 2015, 2016 and 2017 editions of the flagship grass-court tournament, which will be broadcast live in Belgium in both the French and Dutch languages. The tournament will also be available on Eurosport Player, Eurosport’s dedicated online television service.
Eurosport chief executive Peter Hutton said: “This deal is particularly exciting as it means we have all four grand slams for the first time in one country and we hope it's the beginning of a much wider relationship with Wimbledon and the AELTC (All England Lawn Tennis Club).”
Meanwhile, in deals previously reported by TV Sports Markets, Eurosport confirmed today (Thursday) that it had secured the rights to broadcast golf’s US PGA Tour in Norway from January 2016 until the end of 2021, and had snapped up exclusive television and digital rights in Germany for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Hutton added: “To take the Rugby World Cup in Germany we hope signals the start of a relationship with the sport and to take the PGA Tour golf in Norway takes us into the sport in a meaningful way for the first time.”