SBS Discovery and Eurosport pick up handball worlds in Sweden

Pan-Nordic basic-tier and pay-television broadcaster SBS Discovery and pan-European sports broadcaster Eurosport have jointly acquired rights in Sweden for the 2015 World Handball Championship for men and women.

The broadcasters will show exclusive coverage of the men’s event in Qatar from January 15 to February 1 as well as the women’s event in Denmark in December 2015.

“This is the first time that SBS Discovery will broadcast an international championship, making this an historic day,” SBS Discovery Media chief executive Jonas Sjögren said. “Our broadcasts of football European Championship qualifiers over the past year have demonstrated that we have a very competent sports team.”

Last year, Discovery acquired the SBS channels in Scandinavia, creating SBS-Discovery, and earlier this year the US media and entertainment company finalised a deal to acquire Eurosport.

Eurosport Nordic chief executive Dennis Andersson added: “That we, together with SBS Discovery can now can compete for and exclusively broadcast major championships shows the overall strength and the synergies that exist within the Discovery Group.”