The Infront agency has extended its global rights deal with the Italian Winter Sports Federation (FISI) for a further five seasons, till 2025-26.
The deal covers the production and distribution of all FIS World Cup events held in Italy, including all FIS World Cup Alpine Skiing, Nordic Combined, Cross-Country Skiing, Ski Jumping, Snowboarding and Freestyle competitions.
The agency has worked with FISI for over 20 years and its current deal with the federation was due to run out at the end of the 2020-21 season.
Bruno Marty, senior vice president of ProSports at the Infront group and president of Infront Italy, said: “This is a strategic partnership and it was essential to reach a long-term agreement in order to harness the potential levels of production and distribution for FISI.”
Infront is the dominant winter sports agency and has stockpiled international or global rights to national federations’ events in order to package and sell them on to broadcasters. The agency holds the majority of ski federations’ international rights, missing out only on the Austrian Ski Federation and Swiss Ski Association.
Flavio Roda, president of FISI, said: “The product offered by Infront has constantly grown in terms of quality and distribution and this renewal will provide continuity and further development for the future.
“It also offers an opportunity to give further visibility to the Federation’s other partners and provides the right financial support to both FISI and the organising committees of all FIS events in the country.”
The deal for FISI events is yet another deal that the agency has now renewed until 2025-26. It secured the key Norwegian events till the 2025-26 season last month, whilst also has key deals in place with the federations from Finland, Germany, Japan, Slovenia, Sweden and the US.
FIS World Cup events are aired in Italy by public-service broadcaster Rai and Discovery-owned international sports broadcaster Eurosport.