Australian commercial broadcaster Seven will launch a set of free mobile applications next month to show live coverage of a series of sporting events.
The apps will provide live coverage of the Australian Masters, Australian Open and Australian PGA Championships golf tournaments, as well as the Royal Ascot horseracing event, tennis’s Davis Cup and Wimbledon championships and the Fina World Swimming Championships.
The apps, which will be available on IOS Apple and Android mobile platforms, will be supported by the launches of the 7racing.com.au, 7tennis.com.au, 7swimming.com.au and 7golf.com.au websites. The initiative will last for 40 days.
“It is where we are heading as a content company as mobile extends the reach of television outside the home or primary device and it’s happening now,” Clive Dickens, Seven’s chief digital officer, said.
In other news, rival commercial broadcaster Nine is targeting the acquisition of domestic A-League football rights in order to challenge Seven’s Australian Football League Aussie rules coverage on Saturday nights, according to the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
The report said that Nine is the favourite to take over the coverage that is currently shown by public-service broadcaster SBS, which is looking to offload the final two years of its rights, from 2015-16 to 2016-17.