ARD/ZDF conclude 2013 IAAF World Championship deal

Under the terms of the new agreement for the German market, public service broadcaster ARD/ZDF will televise the nine-day IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) World Championships in Moscow, which are scheduled to take place from 10-18 August.

The deal was concluded between Sport A –the sports buying agency of ARD/ZDF – and IEC in Sports, which is the IAAF’s exclusive media agency for European and African rights for the IAAF World Athletics Series.

ARD/ZDF guarantee to transmit live coverage from all evening sessions during the World Championship. In addition, the broadcasters also now have non-exclusive rights to broadcast this year’s two other IAAF World Athletics Series events: the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland (24 March), and the IAAF World Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine (10-14 July).

The partnership represents a further continuation between the broadcasters and the IAAF, having televised the last edition of the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, Korea, and served as the IAAF’s partner through the previous EBU broadcasting deal.

Lamine Diack, president of IAAF, comments: “The conclusion of this agreement with Germany’s public service broadcaster is excellent news for the sport of athletics as it guarantees that the performances of German athletes in Moscow will be seen by the widest possible audience at home. Germany, whose athletes have taken a staggering hall of 70 Olympic track and field titles and 53 gold medals in the IAAF World Championships, loves athletics, and this agreement will help feed that national passion.”