Eurovision Services unveils rights-free sports content resource

Triathlon will be among the sports to be featured on WorldFeed+ Sport

Rights-free content and programming from sports federations is to be made available to broadcasters via satellite as part of a new pop-up resource being offered by Eurovision Services.

Called WorldFeed+ Sports, the offering will see the EBU subsidiary take delivery of HD quality sporting action from federations and upload it to a rolling satellite channel that broadcasters can then access for a “modest” technical subscription fee.

The rights-free content can be used to fill broadcast channels in the absence of live sport caused by the COVID-19 lockdown. Federations will not be charged for using the service which will be made available globally.

Among the sports to be featured will be triathlon, canoeing, cycling and motorsport as well as the multi-sport Universiade 2019 events and a multi-sports magazine show.

“At a time when broadcasters are looking to fill the void left by the lack of live sports events, we saw an opportunity to help them thanks to our excellent relationships with the world’s sports federations.”

Speaking to SVG Europe, Michele Gosetti, head of global sales and marketing for Eurovision Services revealed that the service will have moved from concept to launch in little more than seven days.

“At a time when broadcasters are looking to fill the void left by the lack of live sports events, we saw an opportunity to help them thanks to our excellent relationships with the world’s sports federations,” he said.

“WorldFeed+ Sports offers a wide variety of sports content for a weekly or monthly technical fee that is little more than the cost of taking a regular live sports broadcast. It allows broadcasters to showcase new sports, experiment with different formats and new ideas and, above all, keep their audiences engaged.”

“I’m proud that we have been able to develop and deploy this new offer in just over a week,” he added.

Eurovision Services is currently negotiating with other federations to increase the breadth of the offering.

The schedule for the first week’s output will include four hours of fresh content followed by four hours of repeats per day, repeating three times over 24 hours for the first four days.

Broadcasters will be offered the chance to trial the service for free for a week.

WorldFeed+ Sports is due to go live on Monday 27 April 2020.