Swedish pay-TV broadcaster C More has acquired rights to 192 of the 225 matches from the top-tier women’s ice hockey league in Sweden, with public broadcaster STV picking up rights to the end-of-season finals and an additional 25 fixtures.
The deals announced by the Swedish Women’s Hockey League (SDHL) have been agreed ahead of the start of the 2019-20 season on September 13.
C More’s output will be spread across its different outlets, including the sports channel Sportkanelen and the C More OTT platform.
News of the landmark exposure follows on from the SDHL’s broadcast agreement with XVI Sports, a media rights consultancy launched in 2016 and headed by Magnus Tegel, previously a leading executive at the IEC in Sports agency.
In that agreement, XVI Sports came together with Swedish production firm Sportsground to ensure the host broadcast of all SDHL matches from 2019-20 to 2024-25. XVI Sports was also brought on board to negotiate rights deals with Swedish broadcasters. The SDHL praised that agreement, which was announced in June, as a deal that brings “continuity, visibility and the opportunity for greater revenue.”
The acquisition of the SDHL rights further tightens C More’s grip on ice hockey rights in the country given the pay-TV broadcaster already shows 800 matches per season from the top two men’s divisions. The Bonnier-owned broadcaster holds rights to the top-tier Swedish Hockey League until the end of the 2023-24 season and to the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan until the end of the 2025-26 campaign.