Eurosport Reaches Athletics Agreement
The IAAF has announced the conclusion of a Pan-European broadcasting deal, brokered by IEC in Sports, with Eurosport for the IAAF World Athletics Series of events from 2011 to 2013.
The agreement begins with live coverage of the 2011 IAAF World Championships, Daegu, Korea, 27th August to 4th September, and also covers the following edition in 2013 in Moscow, Russia.
Eurosport expects to reach very strong viewership for Daegu 2011 and will broadcast at least the 100 hours of dedicated coverage it showed for the 2009 IAAF World Championships that took place in Berlin – which attracted 66 million different European viewers on Eurosport.
In addition to the Outdoor World Championships, the deal also includes wide coverage of the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, the World Marathon and Half-Marathon Championships, the Youth and Junior World Championships and Cross country World Championships.
As well as Eurosport’s television broadcasting of the Athletics World Series events on Eurosport and Eurosport 2, the agreement also allows for live streaming via internet and mobile devices.
Eurosport, a long standing partner of the IAAF through the previous EBU broadcasting deal which expired in 2009, is Europe’s leading sport entertainment group and number one Pan-European channel. Broadcast in 20 different languages, Eurosport reaches over 125 million households in 59 countries, including every single territory in Europe.
It operates on two main channels, Eurosport 1 and 2, as well as other media platforms such as Eurosport HD, Eurosport 2 HD and eurosport.com
IAAF president Lamine Diack said: ‘This deal is excellent news for the IAAF. As there are now broadcasting agreements in place covering more than 100 territories throughout 40 different deals in Europe and Africa’.
‘I am also delighted that our agency IEC in Sports has ensured a strong combination of terrestrial free to air and satellite in most territories, with all but two of those deals in Europe being with free to air broadcasters’.
Laurent-Eric Le Lay, chairman and CEO, Eurosport Group, added: ‘Live and in stunning High Definition, the 2011 Athletics World Championships will be spectacular, and as a preview to London 2012, promise to be the most watched and exciting event this summer on Eurosport’.
‘Eurosport has broadcast Athletics World Championships and World Athletic Series for over 20 years. We continue our long-standing commitment to provide Athletics fans across Europe and around the world with the most comprehensive and qualitative coverage available’.
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