Eurosport snags IAAF rights

A Pan-European broadcasting deal brokered by IEC in Sports, IAAF’s media rights agency for Europe and Africa, has seen Eurosport gain the rights for the IAAF World Athletics Series of events from 2011 to 2013.

The agreement begins with live coverage of the 2011 IAAF World Championships, Daegu, Korea (27 Aug to 4 Sep) and also covers the following edition in 2013 in Moscow, Russia (10 – 18 Aug). In a statement, Eurosport said it expects to reach very strong viewership for Daegu 2011 and will broadcast at least the 100 hours of dedicated coverage it showed for the 2009 IAAF World Championships that took place in Berlin and attracted 66 million different European viewers on Eurosport.

In addition to the Outdoor World Championships, the deal also includes wide coverage of the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships, Istanbul, Turkey (9-11 March), the World Marathon and Half-Marathon Championships, the Youth and Junior World Championships and Cross country World Championships.

As well as Eurosport’s television broadcasting of the Athletics World Series events on Eurosport and Eurosport 2, the agreement also allows for live streaming via internet and mobile devices

“This deal is excellent news for the IAAF,” commented IAAF President, Lamine Diack, “as there are now broadcasting agreements in place covering more than 100 territories throughout 40 different deals in Europe and Africa. I am also delighted that our agency IEC in Sports has ensured a strong combination of terrestrial free to air and satellite in most territories, with all but two of those deals in Europe being with free to air broadcasters.”