Shorts: Extreme E, Boxxer, Quattro

Extreme E has renewed its broadcast agreement with Spanish broadcaster RTVE for coverage of all ten races of the electric race series’ upcoming season.

The races themselves will be streamed live on the station’s digital platform, meanwhile RTVE’s primary free-to-air linear TV channel, Teledeporte, will feature race highlights, review and magazine shows, all of which will be broadcast in Spanish.

Ali Russell, Managing Director at Extreme E, said, “We are delighted to have extended our broadcast agreement with RTVE today as we prepare for Season 4 of the championship. RTVE is not only one of Spain’s premier broadcasters, but the organisation also shares many of Extreme E’s core values – both vital criteria in bringing our environmental message to as many people as possible.”

Season 4 of Extreme E begins in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 17th January.

British boxing promotion BOXXER has announced a new media rights partnership with Chinese electronics and media company StarTimes for distribution in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Headquartered in Beijing, StarTimes has subsidiaries in more than 30 African countries and reaches 45 million people in the region.

Under terms of the agreement, live broadcasts of BOXXER events will be made available to 13 millions households and will be accompanied by a range of shoulder programming.

BOXXER Founder and CEO, Ben Shalom, said, “Africa is a major growth region and focus for us in the coming months and years. Many of our fighters are of African heritage and feel deep affinity with the region, and we know there is a strong appetite for elite-level combat sports there. We’re delighted to announce this new partnership with StarTimes and open up our events and fighters to millions of viewers across Africa.”

Li Bin, Director of Sports Channels at StarTimes added, “StarTimes always spare no effort to present the best in sports entertainment to our viewers. We are honoured to collaborate with BOXXER, such a professional boxing promoter who share the same target with us, and trust that the joint efforts will bring extraordinary experiences to the fans of combat sports across Africa.”

Duncan Ross and Steven Halliwell have announced the launch of Quattro Sports Group, a new sports marketing and content production agency which counts Liverpool and Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk as a client.

Ross started his career at brand marketing consultancy Threepipe and most recently served as Senior Vice President of Athlete Marketing at Wasserman.

Halliwell is another former Wasserman employee who left the ARETÉ agency in 2021 to setup his own content production consultancy, Steven Halliwell Production.

According to a statement, ‘the launch comes on the back of the announcement that Liverpool captain van Dijk has become the first ever current player to be signed as a Global brand ambassador for Heineken on a multi-year partnership, a deal negotiated by Quattro.’

League One football club Bolton Wanderers has announced an extension to its longstanding partnership with Bolton Kia.

Under terms of the agreement, the local car dealership, which has supported the club for 19 years, will continue to enjoy prominent branding across the West Stand at the 28,723-capacity Toughsheet Community Stadium both externally and internally.

Additionally, an animated Kia EV6 will ‘drive’ around the pitch, using the latest LED projection technology and advertisements will be visible across the clubs’ grounds, programme, and hospitality food menus.

Aurora Media Worldwide has appointed Dominique Cutts to the newly-created post of Chief Content Officer. 

According to a statement, Cutts’ appointment signals the creation of a new management team structure to position the business for the next phase of growth and development, building on recent new business wins which include the Hexagon Cup padel tournament and powerboat racing series E1.

Cutts said, “In recent years, the collision of sport and entertainment has seen an explosion of storytelling across platforms. I am thrilled to be able to capitalise on this by joining the talented team at Aurora, who not only have a wealth of incredible relationships, but a real desire to push boundaries in both storytelling and creative execution. At such a pivotal moment in the industry I am delighted to have the opportunity to build on Aurora’s strengths to create extraordinary, original and compelling films and to help shape a company that will continue to lead the field well into the future”