Modern Times Group, the multi-territory commercial and pay-television broadcaster, renewed its rights agreement with the International Ice Hockey Federation for the Baltic countries for a further six years, from 2012 to 2017. The deal was negotiated by the Infront Sports & Media agency, the exclusive marketing partner of the federation.
The deal covers rights for the annual IIHF World Championship, and the Division I Championship, the second-tier of international ice hockey. MTG has acquired multi-platform rights across free-to-air television, pay-television, mobile devices and the internet, in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
In the Division I championship twelve nations are spilt into two groups, with the winner of each group being promoted to the top-tier World Championships the following year. In 2012, Latvia will compete at the World Championships, whilst Lithuania is amongst the Division I nations. Estonia will take part in the third-tier Division 2 Championship, following relegation this year.
For the 2012 World Championships, pay-television coverage of all 50 games will be available across the three territories on the Viasat Sport Baltic channel. In Latvia, free-to-air channels TV3 and TV6 will show 20 live matches, including all games involving the Latvian national side, plus the semi-finals and final. Estonian and Lithuanian viewers will also be able to watch a total of 20 live games free-to-air on the TV6 channel.