German commercial sports broadcaster Sport1, owned by Constantin Media, has announced that it will launch a new US sports pay-television channel in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on August 1.
Sport1 US will be distributed by Kabel Deutschland, Sky Deutschland, Unitymedia and Kabel BW, with Sport1 also significantly enhancing its portfolio of US sports rights.
Sport1 has agreed an additional rights package with American football’s NFL on top of its existing deal.
Last season pay-television channel Sport1+ showed four games per week live and exclusive with German commentary. In the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons, this will be increased to seven games featuring German or English commentary. The NFL Playoffs and the Super Bowl will also be broadcast live, along with games from the NFL pre-season starting in August, plus magazine shows and documentaries from the NFL Films portfolio.
Sport1 has also acquired further pay-television rights from basketball’s NBA to add to its existing deal. Sport1 will show three games a week live in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons – up from the previous two – in both the regular season and the playoffs. Sport1 will continue to broadcast the NBA Finals live and in full.
Sport1 has additionally acquired a sizeable rights package from US sports broadcaster ESPN. This comprises broadcast rights to NCAA college American football and college basketball for the next three seasons through 2016.
The ESPN rights package also includes live broadcast rights to the IndyCar US motor sport series for the remainder of the 2013 season as well as the 2014 and 2015 campaigns.
Sport1’s concerted efforts in the US sports rights field comes after ESPN announced earlier this year that it would close ESPN America and its archive channel ESPN Classic on July 31.