Women’s World Handball Championship secures free-to-air exposure with Sport1 deal

German sports broadcaster Sport1 has acquired rights to the upcoming edition of the women’s World Handball Championship, which will be hosted by Germany.

The national team event will take place from December 1-17, with Sport1 securing platform-neutral distribution rights for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Sport1 acquired the rights from the German division of the Lagardère Sports agency.

Germany begins its campaign with a game against Cameroon on December 1. Sport1 will show live free-to-air coverage of each of Germany’s games, with live streams of matches to also be provided.

Sport1 will show a minimum of 40 hours of live action across its platforms during the tournament, along with daily highlights shows on free-to-air television. Up to eight additional games will be shown on the Sport1+ pay-television channel.

In addition, Germany’s matches, as well as the semi-finals and final of the tournament, will be shown via video-sharing website YouTube and social media platform Facebook.

Sport1’s coverage will also be made available through the Sport1.de website, its mobile applications and across its social media channels, with videos, interviews and news segments to be incorporated.

Sport1 will also show free-to-air coverage of Germany’s warm-up match against Iceland on November 25.

TV Sports Markets understands that public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF will show the semi-finals and final of the Championships, if Germany reaches that stage, via a sublicensing agreement with Sport1.