German sports broadcaster Sport1 has acquired rights for the new Volleyball Nations League.
The platform-neutral deal with the FIVB, volleyball’s global governing body, covers Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Sport1 will show live coverage of the preliminary round matches taking place in Germany between June 12 and 17.
The rights will be exploited on free-to-air Sport1, as well as on the Sport1+ pay-television channel and the Sport1.de website.
Sport1 and Sport1+ will broadcast live coverage of the German women’s team matches against China and the Netherlands on June 12 and 14 at 8.25pm local time, with Sport 1+ and Sport1.de showing the Germany v Turkey clash at the same time on June 13.
In the men’s tournament, Sport1 and Sport1+ will show live coverage of all three of Germany’s fixtures, against Japan on June 15 at 5.55pm, Argentina on June 16 at 3.55pm and Russia on June 17 at 2.55pm.
The league was launched earlier this month by the FIVB, featuring 16 national teams in the men’s and women’s competitions. The teams will compete in round-robin competitions in various countries before progressing to a final round in July, with Lille in France and Nanjing in China hosting the respective finales of the men’s and women’s tournaments.
Sport1 showed live coverage in Germany, Austria and Switzerland of seven matches during Germany’s domestic Volleyball Bundesliga top division last season.