Cypriot pay-television broadcaster Lumiere Television and the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority, CyTA, are to collaborate on establishing a new sports channel, according to the Cyprus Mail newspaper.
The channel will show coverage of the top football divisions in England, Spain and Germany, the report said. The new channel will be carried by the telco’s Cytavision platform and will launch on March 8.
CyTA spokesman Lefteris Christou said that the channel would be initially available for no extra charge and will replace LTV Sports Channel 2.
Christou denied that the channel launch represented the first step in a planned merger between the two companies. Cytavision will continue to carry Lumiere’s sport channels on its digital platform.
Earlier this week, CyTA paid Lumiere €500,000 ($685,000) so that the pay-television broadcaster could pay Cypriot football club Apoel Nicosia a €670,000 instalment as part of a rights deal. Under that agreement, CyTA received rights from Lumiere for the German top-tier Bundesliga.