Swiss public-service broadcaster SRG SSR has acquired the exclusive media rights in Switzerland to a number of major international events across the three winter sport disciplines of ice hockey, bobsleigh/skeleton and curling.
The contracts, which were brokered by the Infront Sports & Media agency and include all audio-visual rights, are headlined by the International Ice Hockey Federation’s World Championship from 2018 to 2023 – a period which includes the 2020 event which will take place in Switzerland.
Additionally, SRG SSR has purchased media rights for pan-European club competition the Champions Hockey League, for the upcoming 2017-18 season through to 2022-23.
SRG SSR has also sealed rights for the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation’s World Cup and World Championships up to and including the 2017-18 season, as well as the World Curling Championships and the European Curling Championships until spring 2018.
Infront acts as the exclusive marketing partner of the IIHF, the CHL, the IBSF and World Curling Federation and distributes media rights for their respective flagship events.
Commenting on the deals, Bruno Marty, executive director of winter sports at Infront, said: “With this approach, we are achieving an immense presence in one of the core winter sports markets for some of the top international events in our winter sports portfolio.”
In other news, pay-television broadcaster Teleclub has said it has agreed sublicensing deals with SRG SSR for rights to the IIHF World Championship and CHL. Precise terms of the agreements were not disclosed.