Zug, Switzerland – The leading international sports marketing company Infront Sports & Media has secured a number of comprehensive media rights agreements with Swiss public broadcaster SRG SSR for flagship FIS events. The long-term agreements include the FIS World Cup events for the upcoming 2016/17 season through till 2020/21 as well as the FIS World Championship events taking place in 2017, 2019 and 2021.
The FIS Ski World Cups are spread across the entire winter sports season - held from October through till March. The extended and expanded agreement with SRG SSR will provide Swiss audiences with comprehensive coverage across the broadcasters' TV, radio and digital platforms and comprise of the FIS World Cups in Alpine, Nordic, Snowboard and Freestyle skiing.
In addition, SRG SSR has signed another media rights agreement covering TV, radio and digital platforms for the winter sport highlights - the FIS Alpine and Nordic World Championships - in 2019 and 2021. Furthermore, SRG SSR will broadcast the 2017 FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships carried out in Sierra Nevada, Spain from 6 until 19 March.
Roland Mägerle, Head of Business Unit Sport at SRG, said: “We are pleased to be able to comprehensively report on the FIS World Cup and World Championship events for the long-term future. Our audience will be able to closely follow the success stories of our winter sports athletes on the SRG channels and platforms – providing the expected high standard and quality. In the upcoming season, the German speaking part of Switzerland will benefit from an even more comprehensive snow sports offer on TV, radio and digital channels and an expanded live broadcast.”
Bruno Marty, Executive Director Winter Sports at Infront, commented: “In Switzerland, skiing and snowboarding enjoys a long tradition and week after week brings countless fans in front of the TV. We are very pleased that we are able to ensure long-term coverage of the highest quality in Switzerland. Through this commitment, SRG is underlining its position as the number 1 channel for winter sports nationwide.”
Infront was chosen by the International Ski Federation as its overall commercial partner for the 2019 and 2021 FIS Alpine and Nordic World Skiing Championships – handling the media rights distribution, TV production, sponsorship, merchandising and hospitality. With respect to the media production, broadcasters will receive a quality of signal and level of support that matches the highest standards in sport today. Infront also manages the international media rights distribution – excluding domestic territories – for the 2017 FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships.
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 the most respected sports marketing company in the world, managing a comprehensive portfolio of top properties. Led by President & CEO Philippe Blatter, Infront covers all aspects of successful sporting events – including distribution of media rights, sponsorship, media production and event operation – and has won a reputation for its high standards of delivery. As the number one player in winter sport and with a leading role in football, summer and endurance sports, Infront enjoys long-lasting partnerships with 170 rights-holders and hundreds of sponsors and media companies. Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, Infront has a team of more than 900 experienced staff working from over 35 offices across more than 15 countries, delivering 4,100 event days of top class sport around the world every year. In November 2015, Infront was integrated into Wanda Sports Holding, part of the Chinese conglomerate the Dalian Wanda Group.