Thema-Alterna’TV, a subsidiary of French pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus, is to launch a new basketball-dedicated pay-television channel in the US and Latin America.
Fiba Americas TV will bring together the officially sanctioned International Basketball Federation (Fiba) league games of North American, South American and Central American and Caribbean teams.
Offering some 1,852 games per season, Fiba Americas TV covers teams from the three zones of Canada and the United States; South America and Central America and Caribbean.
In addition to league play, Fiba Americas TV will also deliver Fiba Championship games including Centrobasket, the Cocaba and South American Championships and Youth Olympics, as well as monthly clinics for coaches and referees.
The network will be available to cable-television operators in the US and Latin America and will mark the first time games from Fiba competitions in the Americas have been available on one dedicated platform.
Patrick Rivet, senior vice-president of distribution at Thema, said: “Our content strategy for acquiring Alterna’TV was to capitalise on its relationships and knowledge of the US and Latin America market in an effort to create complementary programming offerings and greater efficiencies with our sister companies. Fiba Americas TV is the ideal channel to kick off the new Thema-Alterna’TV partnership and also give cable operators a unique offering for sport fans.”
Thema-Alterna’TV was formed earlier this year when Canal Plus-owned Thema, an independent channel distribution agency, acquired content distribution company Alterna TV.