New long-term deal with Infront sees Discovery Sports secure even more exclusivity for FIS events to unlock the power of winter sports
Comprehensive winter sports coverage across Discovery's channels and platforms including Eurosport to build excitement for Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022
Fans to benefit from localised, live and on-demand coverage of Ski World Cups, Alpine and Nordic World Ski Championships and Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships
Discovery Sports has agreed a new multi-year deal with Infront to bring a number of world-class Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS) events to fans in more than 50 markets in Europe, reaffirming its status as the 'Home of Winter Sports'.
Starting from the 2021-22 season, men's and women's FIS World Cup Events including every Alpine Ski World Cup race*; the Ski Jumping World Cup, Cross Country World Cup, Nordic Combined World Cup; and men's and women's Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Cup events, will be available to watch on Discovery's platforms including Eurosport and discovery+** for the next five years, providing viewers with exciting live content each weekend through the winter.
The package of world-class winter sports rights also features the FIS Alpine and Nordic World Ski Championships in 2023 (France and Slovenia) and 2025 (Austria and Norway) along with the FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships in 2023 (Georgia) and 2025. The Biathlon World Team Challenge will also be shown along with Summer Grand Prix Ski Jumping annually until 2025.
As part of the 50-plus market agreement, Discovery Sports has secured exclusive access for all events in more than 40 markets, which further strengthens its multi-sport, direct-to-consumer offering through localised content and enhanced digital experiences within the ultimate fan-first, winter sports ecosystem. The deal completes an unrivalled skiing offer within the most comprehensive winter sports portfolio, which will provide fans with at least 1,000 hours of live content from the biggest winter events each year.
Andrew Georgiou, President of Sports, Discovery, said: "Eurosport has always been the home of winter sports, bringing fans the greatest choice of events and access to the sports they love. I'm delighted that Discovery Sports' continued investment in the world's greatest events and our renewed partnership with Infront will allow us to deliver every Alpine, Cross Country and Nordic Combined World Championships and World Cup race; every Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships and World Cup and more Ski Jumping events than anyone else, which will help us to unlock the power of winter sports as we build towards Beijing 2022.
"Our deep winter sports expertise and localised production combined with the immense scale and reach of Discovery's European portfolio including via Eurosport and discovery+ means we can continue to use our world-class storytelling ability to bring fans closer to their heroes, delivering action from the most exciting winter sports to the widest possible audience."
Discovery is recognised for providing fans with the ultimate winter sports viewing experience, harnessing the best local experts, unrivalled insights and next generation immersive technology to bring fans closer to the action. The award-winning Eurosport Cube was credited with 'redefining the Olympics viewing experience' during the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 and Discovery's investment in technology means more innovations are set to be unveiled for fans in the build-up to Beijing 2022 as part of its year-round approach to winter sports storytelling.
The announcement follows Discovery Sports' coverage of Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 where it brought viewers across Europe every unmissable moment while breaking new audience reach and engagement records during the first streaming Olympics. Discovery served viewers with 1.3 billion minutes of Olympic content across its digital platforms and brought on three times more new paying subscribers to discovery+ and Eurosport's subscription services than at Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. During Beijing 2022, the home of the Olympic Games in Europe will show every unmissable moment of a Winter Olympic Games across discovery+ in Europe for the first time**.
Notes to editor
*Excludes any events held in Romania. Races held in Austria and Switzerland are part of separate agreements.
**discovery+ will show events in exclusive markets only.
Discovery and Eurosport's coverage of all events within this agreement excludes the Nordics.
In 2021, Eurosport will be accessible via discovery+ in markets including Denmark, Finland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK.
Exclusive coverage for the FIS Alpine, Cross Country, Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined World Cups, FIS Summer Grand Prix Ski Jumping and Biathlon World Team Challenge in:
Albania, Andorra (except domestic and Spanish FIS World Cups Finals), Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria (except FIS Alpine Ski World Cup), Cyprus, Estonia, France (race selection), Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, The Netherlands (except the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup Four Hills Tournament), North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain (except FIS World Cups Finals to be held in Andorra), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.
Non-exclusive coverage in:
Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, San Marino and Vatican State, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Africa Territory, Asia-Pacific Territory and Middle East
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