The Discovery Networks Deutschland division of international media and entertainment company Discovery Communications has agreed a media partnership with the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) ahead of the 2018 winter Olympic Games.
The agreement struck with the Deutsche Sport Marketing division of the DOSB covers both Pyeongchang 2018 and the 2020 summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The deal is designed to strengthen coverage of ‘Team Germany’ as Discovery prepares to enter its first Games as a major Olympics broadcaster. Discovery has rights for the Games across the majority of European territories, including Germany, from 2018 to 2024. Discovery-owned sports broadcaster Eurosport’s coverage will be available in Germany via free-to-air television and on mobile devices.
For Pyeongchang 2018, a sublicensing deal will allow public-services broadcasters ARD and ZDF to present a wide selection of free-to-air coverage on television and digital simulcast, as well as three additional feeds of live sport. Eurosport will show free-to-air coverage on Eurosport 1 as a dedicated Games channel, with the broadcaster to hold rights to air every moment of the Games either on television or via digital platforms.
Eurosport will retain exclusivity for prime-time highlights programming during Pyeongchang 2018. Snowboarding, figure skating and ice hockey – excluding German team matches and finals – will also be live and exclusive on Eurosport.
Under the new deal announced yesterday (Wednesday), Eurosport will set up a permanent studio in the ‘Deutschen Haus’, which DSM operates on behalf of the DOSB at Olympic Games. From there, a daily one-hour program entitled #TeamD – Live from the Deutschen Haus will be broadcast from 3.30pm to 4.30pm German time during Pyeongchang 2018.
In addition, Eurosport will closely monitor German athletes ahead of Pyeongchang 2018, and offer Team Germany’s partners new and expanded opportunities to present themselves on various channels in the run-up to, and during, the winter Games.
Describing the agreement as a “pioneering” media partnership, DOSB president Alfons Hörmann, said: “It is valuable for the DOSB because it supports us immensely in accompanying the athletes of Team Germany even more in the communication and to offer them even more coverage possibilities. We particularly welcome the fact that Eurosport reports from the studio in the Deutschen Haus and from there information and background, but above all, the atmosphere in the team can be excellently transmitted back to Germany.”