Zug, Switzerland - The international sports marketing company, Infront Sports & Media, has extended the media rights agreement for FIS World Cup events with SportA, the sports rights agency of ARD/ZDF. The contract covers all audio-visual rights in Germany and will run from the upcoming 2016/17 season up to and including 2020/21.
As a result, ARD/ZDF receive the rights for over 200 FIS World Cup events per season across the disciplines of Alpine, Cross-Country, Nordic Combined, Ski Jumping, Snowboard and Freestyle skiing. In addition to TV rights, the agreement further includes the corresponding online and mobile rights.
Bruno Marty, Executive Director Winter Sports at Infront: “The agreement with ARD/ZDF is important to us for two reasons: Firstly, skiing is very popular nationwide in Germany and secondly, the two broadcasters have a very strong position in the German market. We are therefore happy to help deliver the very best coverage of these events to the enthusiastic German ski and snowboard fans for the long-term.”
For the majority of FIS World Cup events, Infront facilitates global media rights distribution through a collective approach and has developed and produced attractive programming formats and increased worldwide visibility for the series. Together with the FIS, Infront has also established guidelines to ensure a consistent quality in media production across the entire season.
Infront Sports & Media is one of the leading international sports marketing groups with more than 900 experienced employees and more than 35 branch offices in more than 15 countries. Headed by President & CEO Philippe Blatter, the company, headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, is a successful partner of 170 sports associations and clubs in football, winter, summer and endurance sports. Recognized for its high quality standards, Infront covers all aspects of successful top-notch events - from the distribution of media and marketing rights, through media production to operational implementation. Overall, the Group thus records an annual profit of 4,100 days in the operating business. In November 2015 the integration was communicated to Wanda Sports Holding.