Infront seals media rights agreement for a variety of top summer and winter sports properties
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Long-term free-to-air and pay-TV sports coverage secured for flagship events such as the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship and CEV European Volleyball Championships
Zug, Switzerland – Infront Sports & Media, a Wanda Sports company, has confirmed media rights agreements with various international broadcasters; including new broadcast partners NHL Network™, RTV Slovenija, Lattelecom, LTV and Arena Sport for key ice hockey properties such as the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, the Champions Hockey League and the Spengler Cup Davos. In addition, Arena Sport, Lattelecom and LTV are benefitting from Infront’s broad summer sports portfolio – amongst others various CEV volleyball and beach volleyball events.
Strong ice hockey demand...
… in the United States
Infront has been able to find a new partner, NHL Network™, to broadcast the 2018 – 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships across the United States, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. NHL Network™ will provide complete tournament coverage, with game broadcasts, previews, highlights and comprehensive analysis within its studio programming.
…in Latvia
The far-reaching agreements with communications company Lattelecom and LTV will provide full coverage of all games of the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships 2018-2023 with free-to-air TV channel LTV 7 and pay-TV HD channels – 360TV and a special ice hockey pop-up channel - sharing the rights. Further, Lattelecom has committed to become partner of the Champions Hockey League 2017/18 – 2022/23 and the Spengler Cup Davos 2017.
…in Slovenia
The new agreement in place with national public broadcaster RTV Slovenija comprises of the exclusive rights in Slovenia for the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship from 2018 to 2023, the Champions Hockey League until 2022/23 and the Spengler Cup Davos 2017.
…in Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia
Pay-TV broadcaster Arena Sport secured the rights to broadcast each of the aforementioned ice hockey properties for the same duration in Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. In addition, Arena Sport has obtained broadcast rights for the BMW IBSF World Cup and World Championships Bob & Skeleton until the end of the 2017/18 season, as well as the World Curling Championships and the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships until 2018.
Collection of summer disciplines offers all-year sports coverage
Ensuring a full breadth of sports programming across the year, Arena Sport has further secured rights to key Infront summer sports properties including volleyball, beach volleyball and endurance events to provide a full spectrum of comprehensive sports coverage. Included in the package are the CEV European Volleyball Championships until 2021, various CEV Beach Volleyball events also until 2021 and the ITU World Triathlon Series until 2020.
Lattlecom and LTV are also making use of Infront’s summer sports portfolio by signing contracts for the 2017-2021 CEV Beach Volleyball Championships and the CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup Finals 2020.
Strong coverage - both on free-to-air and pay-TV
Bruno Marty, Infront’s Executive Director Winter Sports: “We are always striving for comprehensive coverage – both for free-to-air and pay-TV viewers. Catering to the high demand for winter sports, we are very pleased that some of our flagship ice hockey properties have been taken up by renowned broadcasters across the world. Furthermore, the additional summer sports package provides comprehensive sports coverage all year long. It is great to see that broadcasters recognise the appeal and strong public interest of these events and the benefits of a varied programming schedule.”
About Infront Sports & Media
Infront Sports & Media, a Wanda Sports company, is one of the most respected sports marketing companies in the world, managing a comprehensive portfolio of top properties. Led by President & CEO Philippe Blatter, Infront covers all aspects of successful sporting events – including distribution of media rights, sponsorship, media production, event operation and digital solutions – and has won a reputation for its high standards of delivery. As the number one player in winter sport and with a leading role in football, summer and endurance sports, Infront enjoys long-lasting partnerships with close to 170 rights-holders and hundreds of sponsors and media companies. Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, Infront has a team of more than 900 experienced staff working from over 35 offices across more than 15 countries, delivering 4,100 event days of top class sport around the world every year. In November 2015, Infront was integrated into Wanda Sports Holding, part of the Chinese conglomerate the Dalian Wanda Group.
About Wanda Sports
Wanda Sports is the world’s leading sports business entity, founded to capture the opportunities in the global sports industry and to contribute to the prosperous international sports landscape in three key areas: 1) Spectator Sports (media & marketing business), 2) Participation Sports (active lifestyle business), 3) Services (digital, production and service business). Led by President & Vice Chairman Philippe Blatter, Wanda Sports incorporates the international sports marketing company Infront Sports & Media, the iconic endurance brand IRONMAN and Wanda Sports China. The headquarters are in Guangzhou, China.
