Portuguese pay-television broadcaster Sport TV has acquired rights to the World Rugby Sevens Series.
The exclusive rights deal for the Portuguese market will take in the remainder of the 2019-20 season, starting with this weekend’s event in Vancouver, Canada.
Sport TV will go on to cover the remaining rounds in London, Paris, Singapore and Hong Kong.
The IMG agency distributes selected international rights to the World Rugby Sevens Series in a deal running until 2023. The agreement covers Europe (excluding UK and Ireland), the Middle East and North Africa, the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America, along with worldwide in-flight and news access rights.
World Rugby’s own Sevens Series streaming platform offers two hours of ‘premium’ action from each event, with highlights and features shown before live coverage of the final four matches.
Portugal does not take part in the World Rugby Sevens Series although neighbouring Spain is part of both the men’s and women’s tournaments. Brazil also take part in the women’s competition. Broadcast rights in Spain are held by Telefónica’s Movistar TV.
World Rugby, the Hong Kong Rugby Union and Sport Singapore last month took the decision to reschedule the Hong Kong and Singapore rounds to October 10-11 and October 16-18, respectively, due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.