MTV Gets Finnish Rights to Champions Hockey League
January 31, 2014
MTV, prostate formerly MTV3, sale cialis have secured the Finnish broadcast rights to the Champions Hockey League after a new deal signed with distributors Infront Sports & Media.
As one of the first major announcements for the new pan-European club ice hockey competition, the agreement with MTV – one of Finland’s largest television stations – will provide extensive coverage across the key ice hockey market including terrestrial, satellite, cable, broadband internet and mobile rights on a free and/or pay basis.
MTV will broadcast Champions Hockey League games extensively on its MTV Sport pay-TV channels as well as other network platforms.
In addition, highlights and news will regularly be shown on free-TV. As part of the agreement, MTV will handle media production of games carried out in Finland, based on Infront’s high-level production guidelines developed specifically for the series.
Jorma Härkönen, Senior Vice President of MTV, commented: “Finland is by any definition a true ice hockey country. Champions Hockey League is an extremely strong new competition format that will surely engage not only Finnish hockey fans, but fans throughout Europe. Our broadcasting experience with multiple leagues and tournaments, the broad backing by clubs, leagues and the marketing experience of Infront will surely establish this new competition as a premium property in winter sports.”
The new competition, fully owned and operated by the European Ice Hockey Club Competition (EICC), which includes – as its shareholders – top European clubs, six national leagues and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) will start in August 2014, with the preliminary rounds running to October. The final rounds take place from November 2014 to February 2015.
Anders Ternbom, Chairman of the Champions Hockey League, added: “This long-term agreement is a strong sign of confidence for our young league. As Finland is such a key hockey market, getting MTV on board is substantial for the visibility and impact of the competition.”
A minimum of six Finnish clubs will participate in the competition including: IFK Helsinki, JYP Jyväskylä, KalPa Kuopio, Kärpät Oulu, Tappara Tampere and TPS Turku.