FIDE, the global governing body of chess, has secured its first long-term media rights deal through a new partnership with Norwegian public-service broadcaster NRK.
Agon, the commercial partner of FIDE, has signed a contract that grants NRK exclusive broadcasting rights in Norway for all World Chess Championship events through to the end of 2020.
The events include the 2016, 2018 and 2020 World Championship matches, the candidates tournaments to select the challengers, and the World Blitz and Rapid Championships over this time period. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed, but FIDE said the deal is valued in the low seven figures and is a record for chess.
The agreement announced today (Tuesday) comes after NRK in September acquired rights for the 2015 World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships and the 2016 World Chess Championship.
Norwegian Magnus Carlsen (right of picture) is the reigning world champion in all disciplines.
NRK has developed new tools for broadcasting chess on television, including dedicated studios, chess analytics software and other devices. “This (deal) will enable us to focus on innovation and further development of chess as a TV product,” Runar Ostmo, head of sports rights at NRK, said.
Ilya Merenzon, chief executive of Agon, added: “Working with NRK, which has developed exciting ways to make chess interesting for TV audiences, is a big step for chess. With their expertise and technology, we hope to offer chess programming to other countries in Europe and around the world.”