O2 TV lands exclusive rights to Czech football league

Pay-television broadcaster O2 TV has acquired exclusive rights to the First League, the top tier of club football in the Czech Republic.

The four-season agreement, running from 2018-19 to 2021-22, was signed with the Pragosport agency.

Under the deal, the O2 TV Sport and O2 TV Fotbal channels will offer at least 105 live matches per season from the competition, which will be rebranded as the Fortuna Liga from next season. This is more than double the amount that O2 TV has broadcast for the past three seasons, with the broadcaster also securing online rights to the league.

Anna Lenerová, head of O2 TV, said the First League deal represents the culmination of a six-month period that has served as a turning point for the broadcaster.

She said: “We managed to win exclusive rights to the (Uefa) Champions League, we will have a significant share of the ice hockey Extraliga and the last cherry on the cake is complete rights to the First League. 

“We confirm our intention that we want to broadcast exclusively the most attractive and most watched content.”