WBSC awards CBC, FloSports softball Americas Olympic qualifier rights

The World Baseball Softball Confederation has awarded public broadcaster CBC and OTT service FloSports exclusive rights in Canada and the US, respectively, to the Women’s Softball Americas Qualifier for the 2020 summer Olympic Games.

CBC Sports will live-stream 24 matches in the tournament on its website and through its iOS and Android apps.

It will also broadcast Canada’s Super Round match on August 31 if the team reaches that stage.  The match would be shown on the CBC linear channel and CBC Gem streaming platform.

The tournament is being held in Canada from August 25-September 1.

In the US, FloSports will also provide live coverage of 24 matches. The OTT service held exclusive rights in the US and Canada to the equivalent Europe/Africa Qualifier event held in the Netherlands in July.

WSBC will provide free-to-view live streaming of 24 matches on its Game Time OTT platform in territories where it has no broadcast partner.

The rights-holder will also offer Spanish-language coverage of 24 games through Facebook Live.

Last month, Spanish agency Mediapro secured exclusive media rights across the Americas until 2022 for all of the WBSC’s flagship international competitions.