Zug, Switzerland – The international sports marketing company Infront Sports & Media has secured a number of comprehensive media rights agreements with Austrian public service national broadcaster ORF. The extended and expanded partnership covers a number of key flagship FIS events over the coming years, including the 2019 and 2021 FIS Alpine and Nordic World Ski Championships, as well as the annual FIS Ski World Cups in Alpine, Nordic and Freestyle skiing as well as Snowboard.
The 2019 Alpine and Nordic World Ski Championships are to be staged respectively in Åre, Sweden and Seefeld, Austria. ORF will provide exclusive live/delayed, highlights and news coverage across TV, online and mobile platforms nationwide for the Men’s and Ladies’ Alpine, Cross-Country and Ski Jumping races as well as for the Men’s Nordic Combined races.
In addition, ORF has renewed its existing media rights agreement for another FIS World Cup cycle, which covers the equivalent disciplines as mentioned above, the Men’s and Ladies’ Snowboard and Freestyle races, as well as the FIS Official World Cup magazine programs. The annual FIS World Cups stretch across the entire winter sports season – starting in October with the finals carried out in March.
Alexander Wrabetz, ORF Director General, said: “ORF as Austria’s national public service broadcaster has a long-term tradition in skiing and with our country contributing many of the most successful athletes, our viewers expect full coverage of these popular and prestigious races across all disciplines. With Infront collectively providing key FIS skiing properties from one hand, we were able to close an all-encompassing media rights agreement and ultimately benefit from long-term planning and security. Scheduling these highlights within our programming, we can guarantee must-see skiing content for our audiences over the coming years.”
Bruno Marty, Executive Director Winter Sports at Infront, commented: “The agreement with ORF in Austria is the second milestone in our media rights distribution effort for the prestigious FIS Alpine and Nordic World Ski Championships – a new premium property in our portfolio from 2019. ORF will be able to build on its well established position as the country’s number one channel for skiing as it is also retaining the comprehensive FIS World Cup rights, allowing for continuous and diverse skiing coverage all season long. Leading up to the 2019 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Austria, ORF is well equipped to meet the expected growing fan demand.”
A strong role in international skiing
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 is also comprehensively involved in the FIS World Cup. As media and/or marketing partner to the majority of national associations hosting FIS World Cup events across various disciplines, Infront has facilitated global media rights distribution through a collective approach, 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.
About Infront Sports & Media
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 and summer sports, Infront enjoys long-lasting partnerships with 160 rights-holders and hundreds of sponsors and media companies. Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, Infront has a team of experienced staff working from 25 offices across 13 countries, delivering 4,000 event days of top class sport around the world every year.
