US sports broadcaster Universal Sports Network, a subsidiary of media company NBCUniversal, has extended its rights deal with the International Association of Athletics Federations through to 2019.
The extension to the deal which, began in 2010, was negotiated by the Dentsu agency, the IAAF’s broadcasting partner for territories outside of Europe and Africa.
The partnership, which already covered next year’s IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China, now guarantees coverage in the US of all World Athletics Series events through to 2019 including the 2017 and 2019 World Championships.
The new contract covers the 2016 World Indoor Championships in Portland, Oregon, which will be only the second edition of that competition to be hosted in the US.
IAAF president Lamine Diack said: “We firmly believe that the consistent high-level coverage of our events offered by Universal Sports is the key to athletics making a genuine impact in households across the USA.”
The announcement today (Tuesday) comes on the opening day of the 2014 IAAF World Junior Championships in Oregon, the first World Athletics Series event to be hosted in the US since 1992.