International sports broadcaster Eurosport has acquired highlights rights in the Asia-Pacific region for four leading surfing events through an agreement with the International Surfing Association.
The deal grants Eurosport Asia-Pacific, which broadcasts in 47 countries, highlights to each of the four ISA World Championship events held during the 2016 season, starting with the World Surfing Games in Costa Rica.
Other events included in the deal are the World Junior Surfing Championship in the Azores, the Stand-Up Paddle (SUP) and Paddleboard World Championships in Cloudbreak, Fiji and the Stance World Adaptive Surfing Championships in La Jolla in the US.
The deal is the first to be announced by the ISA since surfing was added to the programme of events for the Tokyo 2020 summer Olympic Games back in August. In June 2015, Eurosport acquired rights in 50 European markets to the next four editions of the Games, from 2018 to 2024.
Eurosport chief executive Peter Hutton said: “The sport’s inclusion on the sports programme of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games ties in perfectly with our forthcoming status as an Olympic broadcaster and we are looking forward to working together to take surfing to more people globally.”