Baku 2015 secures fresh set of European rights deals

Organisers of Baku’s 2015 European Games have secured rights deals in Spain, Portugal, Estonia, Latvia and Slovenia for the inaugural edition of the multi-sport event.

The new deals, with public-service broadcasters RTVE (Spain), ERR (Estonia), LTV (Latvia), RTV Slovenija (Slovenia), and Portuguese pay-television broadcaster Sport TV, all include daily coverage commitments or a minimum number of sport competition hours to be screened during the Games. Baku 2015 said the fresh set of agreements means it has now secured coverage across 47 countries worldwide.

In addition to providing extended competition coverage throughout the Games, RTVE will screen the opening and closing ceremonies live. The broadcaster will also air a series of ‘Road to Baku’ programmes focusing on preparations for the event, which runs from June 12-28 in Azerbaijan’s capital city.

Sport TV will cover the Games on a dedicated 24-hour channel to be broadcast in its home market of Portugal, as well as in Mozambique and Angola.

Charlie Wijeratna, commercial director of Baku 2015, said: “All of these broadcasters are Olympic rights holders for Rio 2016, and bring with them a wealth of experience in broadcasting major sports events.

“A key part of Baku 2015’s commercial offering has been our ability to secure broadcast agreements, and I’m delighted that we’re continuing to deliver on this objective. This announcement shows that we are continuing to raise the profile of the event across the continent.”