Media group Discovery has agreed a wide-ranging deal with the Romanian arm of Vodafone through which its sports broadcaster, Eurosport, will be carried on the telco’s Vodafone TV service.
All channels in the Discovery portfolio that have been available in Romania through telco UPC, including Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2, will be accessible through Vodafone TV.
Vodafone Romania has also agreed to be the sponsor of Eurosport’s tennis broadcasts, which include all four grand slam events and the men’s ATP Tour. The sponsorship will take effect from the 2020 Australian Open, which commences on Monday.
In addition, the Eurosport 4K channel will be launched in Romania tomorrow (Friday). It will initially only be available to UPC subscribers in Bucharest, before being rolled out to the rest of the country.
The Vodafone deal comes with Discovery in dispute with Telekom Romania over a carriage agreement. The Ziarul Financiar newspaper said Discovery has rejected a proposal from the telco that it create separate packages in which only channels such as Eurosport are offered.
Telekom Romania is said to have only sought the Eurosport channels, and not the wider Discovery portfolio, an offer that the latter is reportedly unwilling to consider as it seeks distribution for all Discovery channels.