The Argentinian government has announced the launch of a new free-to-air television channel dedicated to sport.
The high-definition channel, DeporTV, is available nationwide.
The channel will show sports news, magazine programmes, documentaries, interviews and internally-produced series, according to news website El Intransigente.
“We welcome the opening of the first public channel dedicated to sport,” Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the president of Argentina, said.
Minister of sport Claudio Morresi and Tristán Bauer, director of state-owned channel Canal 7, were alongside Kirchner at the announcement.
The introduction of the government’s ‘fútbol para todos’ (‘football for everyone’) scheme to show domestic league matches on free-to-air television in 2009 was credited with helping Kirchner secure re-election in 2011.
As part of the scheme, Canal 7 shows the biggest games from the top division, while rights for other matches are sublicensed to other free-to-air broadcasters, Canal 13 and Telefe.