The European Broadcasting Union has finalised a four-season extension, running from 2014 to 2018 inclusive, to its long-running media partnership with the International Biathlon Union.
Exclusive talks between the EBU, the consortium of public-service broadcasters, and the IBU commenced in June 2013 with the final deal announced today (Friday).
The contract extends an unbroken 21-year partnership that began when the IBU was founded, in 1993.
Under the new agreement, the EBU will exploit the global multiplatform media rights to all IBU Biathlon World Cups, World Championships and various other IBU events during the term of the contract.
The EBU will also provide various other services to the IBU, including provision of a streaming platform on the IBU website, extensive production and transmission guarantees and various contract management, project coordination and implementation services.
The first competition to come under the new agreement will be the Summer Biathlon World Championships, which will be held in Tyumen, Russia, from August 21-24.
EBU director of sports and business Stefan Kuerten said: “We have pushed our multi-services approach further, a move that has been well received by our clients, so we look forward to building on our success and further strengthening the partnership with our biathlon friends.”