Advanced Television

Discovery to air live sports in Italy

September 11, 2013

From Branislav Pekic in Italy

Ireland's Keith Earls runs with the ball on his way to scoring a try during their Rugby World Cup Pool C match against Russia at Rotorua International Stadium in RotoruaDiscovery Italia has purchased the exclusive TV, online and mobile rights for the Six Nations rugby tournament from 2014 to 2017. No financial details were revealed.

This marks a first for the third largest broadcaster in Italy after RAI and Mediaset in terms of audience share, (surpassing 7 per cent this summer). Traditionally, Discovery Italia has focused on factual entertainment, but this year added fiction and kids content with the purchase of the thematic channels of Switchover Media (K2, Frisbee, Giallo, Focus, GXT).

The 15 matches of the Six Nations tournament (from February 1st to March 15th, 2014) will be aired on Dmax, a channel mainly targetted at a male audience and available on both DTT and satellite (via the TivuSat platform). They will be supplemented by pre-and post-game coverage and interviews on the field. The event will be enhanced through a special promotional and marketing campaign across Discovery’s entire network.

The Six Nations tournament in Italy was previously aired by Sky Italia (live) and La7 (delayed broadcasts of the Italian national team).

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