Eurosport

Eurosport
Launched 5 February 1989
Owned by Discovery Communications (51%)
TF1 Group (49%)
Picture format 576i (SDTV)
1080i (HDTV)
Audience share See separate section
Country Europe
Indonesia
Australia
Taiwan
Hong Kong
Philippines
Singapore
Sri Lanka
Thailand
Malaysia
Headquarters Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
Sister channel(s) Eurosport 2
Eurosport News
Website eurosport.com
Availability
Terrestrial
PlusTV (Finland) Channel 45
Boxer (Sweden) Channel 40
DVB-T (Germany) Channel 28 (Hanover)
Channel 36 (Cologne/Bonn)
Channel 46 (Hamburg)
Channel 52 (Ruhr area)
Channel 56 (Berlin)
Channel 60 (Braunschweig)
Digitenne (Netherlands) Channel 18
Lattelecom (Latvia) Channel 19
Mediaset Premium (Italy) Channel 384
Satellite
Foxtel (Australia) Channel 511 (SD/HD)
Channel 1511 (SD)
CanalSat (France) Channel 121 (HD)
MaxTV SAT (Croatia) Channel 401
Dialog TV
(Sri Lanka)		 Channel 33 (SD)
Digi TV (Hungary) Channel ?
UPC Direkt (Hungary) Channel 85
SKY Italia (Italy) Channel 211
Channel 211 (HD)
Astro (Malaysia) Channel 814
Cyfrowy Polsat (Poland) Channel 14
Channel 120 (HD)
NOS Satélite (Portugal) Channel 26
Channel 27 (HD)
Boom TV (Romania) Channel 51
Dolce (Romania) Channel 301
Max TV (Romania) Channel TBA
Digi TV (Romania) Channel TBA
Digiturk (Turkey) Channel 71
Channel 371 (HD)
D-Smart (Turkey) Channel 40
Channel 114 (HD)
Sky (UK & Ireland) Channel 410 (SD/HD)
Channel 411 (SD/HD)
Canal Digital Nordic countries
Astra 1L 12.227 GHz H / 27500 (German, FTA)
Hot Bird 11.242 GHz V / 27.5 (Viaccess PC 2.5,
SECA/Mediaguard 2, Irdeto 2)
Indovision (Indonesia) Channel 304
Yes (Israel) Channel 51 (HD)
Channel 551
NTV Plus (Russia) Channel
Channel (HD)
TotalTV (Serbia) Channel 44
TotalTV (Slovenia) Channel 32
TotalTV (Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina) Channel 38
TotalTV (Croatia) Channel 20
Aora TV (Indonesia) Channel 612
Canal Digitaal (Netherlands) Channel 32
Channel 28 (HD)
TV Vlaanderen (Belgium) Channel 75
Channel 74 (HD)
Cable
Foxtel (Australia) Channel 511 (SD/HD)
Channel 1511 (SD)
Optus TV (Australia) Channel 511
UPC Ireland Channel 423
Channel 424 (HD)
Ziggo (Netherlands) Channel 20 (SD/HD)
Digi TV (Hungary) Channel 33
T-Home (Hungary) Channel 9
T-Home Digital (Hungary) Channel S26
UPC (Hungary) Channel 13
UPC Digital (Hungary) Channel 44 (HD)
Channel 45
Cabovisão (Portugal) Channel 67
Channel 216 (HD)
NOS (Portugal) Channel 26
Channel 27 (HD)
RCS&RDS (Romania) Channel 23
UPC (Romania) Channel 203 (digital with DVR)
Channel 73 (digital)
Serbia Broadband Channel 262
Channel 103 (HD)
StarHub TV (Singapore) Channel 205
Com Hem (Sweden) Channel 10
Channel 102 (HD)
Türksat Kablo TV (Turkey) Channel S21
Virgin Media (UK) Channel 521
Channel 522 (HD)
First Media (Indonesia) Channel 159
IPTV
Tivibu (Turkey) Channel 85
Xbox 360 (Australia) Channel 511
TPG IPTV (Australia) Channel 677
Now TV (Hong Kong) Channel 676
iNES (Romania) Channel
On Telecoms (Greece) Channel 46
MaxTV (Croatia) Channel 402
KPN (Netherlands) Channel 30
Conn-x TV (Greece) Channel 21
Vodafone Tv Net Voz (Portugal) Channel 25
Channel 26 (HD)
MEO (Portugal) Channel 36 (HD)
Channel 37
SK Telecom B tv (South Korea) Channel 654
MojaTV (Bosnia and Herzegovina) Channel 34
Open IPTV (Serbia) Channel 561
T-Home (Hungary) Channel
BT (United Kingdom) Channel 513
Channel 521 (HD)
Moldtelecom (Moldova) Channel 301
CHT MOD (Taiwan) Channel 180 (HD)
Movistar TV (Spain) Channel 40 (HD)
Streaming media
Sky Go Watch live
(UK and Ireland only)
Lattelecom
Virgin TV Anywhere Watch live (UK only)
Horizon Watch live (Netherlands only)
Watch live (Ireland only)
Yelo TV Watch live (Dutch, Belgium only)
Eurosport Player Watch live (European Broadcasting Union member countries only)

Eurosport is a pan-European television sports network co-operated by French broadcaster TF1 Group, and Discovery Communications Incorporated taking a 20% minority interest share in December 2012.[1] On 21 January 2014, Discovery then became majority shareholder in the Eurosport venture with TF1, taking a 51% share of the company.[2]

Eurosport owns a wide range of rights across many sports but generally does not bid for premium priced rights such as those to major football leagues. It transmits much of the same footage across many markets, using unseen commentators rather than on screen presenters so that the same visual feed may be broadcast in multiple languages while holding down production costs.

The network of channels is available in 54 countries, in 20 different languages providing viewers with European and international sporting events. Eurosport first launched on European satellites on 5 February 1989.

Sporting events

Eurosport provides viewers with European and international sporting events. This includes: the Paris Dakar Rally, Monte Carlo Rally, athletics events such as World Athletics Championships and the European Athletics Championships, cycling events such as the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España, tennis events including the French Open, Australian Open and the US Open, World Championship Snooker, ICC World Twenty20, ICC Cricket World Cup, ICC Champions Trophy, All England Open Badminton Championships, Australian Football League, Arm Wars, wintersports, and youth sports like skating and surfing.

Motorsport

Eurosport Events is the Eurosport group's world-class sporting events management/promotion/production division, which promotes the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC), the FIA European Touring Car Cup and the FIA European Rally Championship. Eurosport broadcasts every WTCC race live and every ERC rally either live or with daily highlights.

Eurosport Events (formerly known as 'KSO Kigema Sports Organisation Ltd') was also the promoter of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, a rival rallying series to the World Rally Championship. The IRC ceased at the end of the 2012 season, with Eurosport taking over series promotion of the ERC from 2013.

Since 2008, the Eurosport Group has also been broadcasting the annual 24 Hours of Le Mans in full.

History

Previous Eurosport logo[3]

Prior to the creation of Eurosport, the European Broadcasting Union was acquiring substantial amounts of sports rights, yet its members were only able to broadcast a fraction of them. This provided the impetus for setting up the Eurosport Consortium, made up of several EBU members, to establish an outlet where these rights could be exploited. Sky Television plc was chosen as a commercial partner, and the channel could launch on 5 February 1989.

1991 closure

Eurosport was closed down in May 1991 after the competing Screensport channel had filed a complaint to the European Commission over the corporate structure. The channel was however saved when the TF1 Group (formed after the French government privatised TF1 5 years prior to this) stepped in to replace BSkyB as joint-owners. A new Eurosport channel was able to start its broadcasts the same month.

On March 1, 1993, the cable and satellite channel Screensport merged with Eurosport. Eurosport eventually came under a French ownership consortium, comprising the TF1 Group, Canal+ Group and Havas Images. In January 2001, the network became owned entirely by TF1.

In May 2007, Yahoo! Europe and Eurosport formed a co-branded website[4] which Eurosport uses as its web portal, including an online TV guide, in the UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy and Germany.[5]

In 2008, Eurosport launched an online subscription service (called the Eurosport player) that allows Internet users to watch both Eurosport and Eurosport 2 live, plus additional coverage not available via broadcast. During the 2009 Australian Open, the Internet player offered coverage from five courts.

On 21 December 2012, Discovery Communications purchased a 20% stake in Eurosport from TF1 Group for €170m.[1]

2011 rebrand

On 5 April 2011 Eurosport rebranded its channel. The rebrand incorporated six new on-air idents along with a new logo and presentation style both on-air and off-air.[6][7] The new on-air identity has been designed by Paris-based design company Les Télécréateurs.[3] All localised Eurosport channels embrace the new identity. The Eurosport website also embraces the new identity.[7]

Analogue closedown

Eurosport, having been one of the first channels to broadcast on the Astra 1 group of satellites, was the last satellite channel in Europe to broadcast in an analogue format. On April 30, 2012, shortly after 03:00 CET, the rest of the remaining analogue channels at 19.2 East ceased transmission. Eurosport's analogue channel finally ceased transmission on May 1, 2012 at 01:30 CET, marking the end of an era in European satellite broadcasting.

Eurosport feeds

In Europe, Eurosport is generally available in basic cable and satellite television packages. Since 1999, Eurosport provides various opt-out services providing more relevant sporting content specific to language, advertising and commentary needs. Eurosport offers a stand-alone channel which provides a standardised version of the channel (Eurosport International in English). Alongside this there are also local Eurosport channels in France, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Poland, Nordic region and Asia Pacific. These channels offer greater sporting content with local sporting events, while also utilising the existing pan-European feed. The German version of Eurosport is the only one available free-to-air on European digital satellite television.

Eurosport is currently broadcast in twenty languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Russian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Greek, Turkish, Cantonese.

In Asia-Pacific territories, Eurosport offers a specific channel to this region. Eurosport (Asia-Pacific) launched on 15 November 2009.[8] The service is available in Australia through Foxtel, Optus and TransACT. On 3 November 2014, a HD simulcast launched on Foxtel.[9]

Additional channels

Eurosport HD

A high-definition simulcast version of Eurosport which launched on 25 May 2008. The first event covered in HD being the 2008 French Open at Roland Garros.

Eurosport 3D

In April 2010, Eurosport 3D launched but is only broadcast during a select number of events, such as the French Open and 2012 Summer Olympics.[10][11]

Eurosport 2

Main article: Eurosport 2

A supplementary channel featuring more live sports events, programming and news updates. Eurosport 2 launched on 10 January 2005 and is currently available in 35 countries, broadcasting in 16 different languages English, Swedish, French, Italian, German, Greek, Hungarian, Russian, Bulgarian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian, Turkish, Czech, Danish and Dutch.

Eurosport 2 is self-describing as "the new generation sports channel" - dedicated to team sports, alternative sports, discovery and entertainment including basketball, Twenty20 Cricket, National Lacrosse League, Arena Football League, surfing, Volleyball Champions League, Australian Rules Football matches from the Australian Football League, Bandy World Championships and more.

Eurosport 2 HD, a high-definition version of the channel is also available.

Eurosport News

Main article: Eurosport News

A sports news channel launched on 1 September 2000, featuring live scores, highlights, breaking news and commentary. The service combines video, text and graphics with the screen being divided into 4 sections - a video section that displays highlights and news bulletins, a breaking news ticker at the bottom and a scoring section that gives in-depth analysis of results and game stats.

British Eurosport

In the UK, British Eurosport launched in 1999, replacing Eurosport International on most platforms with some schedule variations and local commentary. The launch of British Eurosport and creation of programming specifically for the UK was initially funded by Premium TV, which did not have a stake in the sports channel, but received a share of the revenue.[12] British Eurosport had live studio presentations of major sporting events and tournaments.

On British Eurosport James Richardson previously hosted the coverage of Serie A football on the Channel from 2002 to 2005 and 2004 UEFA European Football Championship with regular guests including Alan Curbishley, DJ Spoony, former Chelsea FC players Paul Elliott, Ed de Goey, Ray Wilkins, Roberto Di Matteo & former Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini now at LA Galaxy, former England International Luther Blissett and European football journalists Gabriele Marcotti and Xavier Rivoire.

Will Vanders is known for his spirited coverage of K-1 events, and greets the viewer in Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Thai to introduce the martial arts show, Fight Club, on Monday nights.

For tennis, studio presentation for the Australian Open, French Open, U.S. Open and WTA Tour Championships on British Eurosport is hosted by Annabel Croft with the segment Hawk-Eye presented by former British number 2 Jason Goodall. (Goodall was briefly ranked ahead of Chris Bailey, Nick Brown, Andrew Castle, Nick Fulwood, Mark Petchey, and James Turner, in May 1989).

British Eurosport covers the snooker season including ranking events not broadcast by BBC Television including the Shanghai Masters and China Open. Mike Hallett and former world champion Joe Johnson are among the commentators.

British Eurosport has also three figure skating commentators: former Winter Olympic Games competitors Chris Howarth & Nicky Slater, and veteran commentator Simon Reed - brother of the late actor Oliver Reed.

Tour de France coverage in 2014 was commentated on by Carlton Kirby (following the departure of David Harmon) with veteran cyclist Sean Kelly as the technical expert.

On the 10 February 2009, British Eurosport started to broadcast most of its programming in the 16:9 'widescreen' ratio. After the collapse of Setanta Sports, rights for the 2009 season in the USPGA Golf tour reverted to British Eurosport.

On 25 July 2012, British Eurosport HD launched on the Sky, UPC Ireland and Virgin Media platforms, this replaced the pan-European Eurosport HD in the UK and Ireland.[13] Despite Ireland not being in the UK, Irish viewers receive British Eurosport. British Eurosport 2 HD launched on 3 September 2012 on the Sky platform. Virgin Media has also carried Eurosport 3D to broadcast the 2011 and 2012 French Open and 2012 Summer Olympics. UPC Ireland also broadcast Eurosport 3D for the 2011 French Open. Throughout the duration of the 2012 Summer Olympics, Eurosport 3D also broadcast on the Sky 3D channel.[14]

Viewing share

Being an international channel, Eurosport's performance differs significantly between different countries. The figures below show the channel's share of overall viewing in some countries.

Country 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Bulgaria 0.5% 0.6%[15]
Finland (10+) 0.6%[16] 0.7%[17] 0.7%[18] 1.0%[19]
France 1.9%[20] 1.4%[21] 1.6%[21] 1.4%[22] 0.6%
Italy 0.0%[23]
Germany (3+) 0.9% 1.0% 0.9%[24] 0.7%
Netherlands (6+) 0.8%[25] 0.8%[26] 0.9%[27] 0.9%[28] 0.9%[29] 0.9%[30] 0.8%[31] 0.8%[32] 0.9%[33] 0.9%[34] 0.7%[35]
Poland (4+) 0.5% 0.5% 0.5% 0.6% 0.8%
Romania (4+) 0.7%[36]
Sweden (3-99) 1.6% 1.4% 0.9% 0.6%[37]
United Kingdom 0.3% 0.2% 0.2%

Logos

From 1989, for this television network, there are four different logos. The first logo of network is used from 1989 to 1994, the second logo is used from 1994 to 2001, the third logo is used from 2001 to 2011, and the fourth and current logo is in use from 2011.

See also

Press release

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "TF1 & Discovery Communications finalise agreement and move forward to build three-tier strategic alliance across Eurosport, four payTV channels and production" (Press release). TF1 Group. 2012-12-21. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
  2. ↑ "Discovery Communications to acquire TF1 Group's Controlling interest in Top Sports platform Eurosport" (Press release). Discovery Communications. 2014-01-21.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Eurosport gets emotional with rebrand - Media News. Digital Spy (2011-03-31). Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
  4. ↑ http://eurosport.yahoo.com
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ "Blood, sweat and tears". Marketing Week. 31 March 2011.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Les télécréateurs. Lestelecreateurs.com (2012-12-12). Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
  8. ↑ Knox, David (29 September 2009). "Foxtel: “Watch what you want, when & where you want”". TV Tonight. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  9. ↑ Knox, David (3 November 2014). "BoxSets, Discovery Kids launch on Foxtel.". TV Tonight. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  10. ↑ "Eurosport to serve 3D tennis across the continent". Broadband TV News. 15 April 2010.
  11. ↑ "Eurosport goes 3D on Astra". Broadband TV News. 5 June 2012.
  12. ↑ "More than a road digger?". Broadcastnow. 21 March 2001.
  13. ↑ "British Eurosport launches HD channels". Yahoo! Eurosport UK. 3 July 2012.
  14. ↑ "Sky to broadcast Eurosport's 3D Olympics coverage". Digital Spy. 5 April 2012.
  15. ↑ Ekip News. Ekip News. Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
  16. ↑ http://www.finnpanel.fi/lataukset/tv_vuosi_2007.pdf
  17. ↑ http://www.finnpanel.fi/lataukset/tv_vuosi_2008.pdf
  18. ↑ http://www.finnpanel.fi/lataukset/tv_vuosi_2010.pdf
  19. ↑ http://www.finnpanel.fi/lataukset/tv_vuosi_2012.pdf
  20. ↑ "Eurosport Displaces Rtl9 As France Fave". Auditel.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 "France: Eurosport tops cabsat ratings". rapidtvnews.com.
  22. ↑ "TF1 Group". bouygues.com.
  23. ↑ "Rapporto ANNO 2008". Auditel.
  24. ↑ AGF - TV-Daten - TV-Markt - Marktanteile. Agf.de. Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
  25. ↑ "Jaarrapport 2003" (PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 2004. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
  26. ↑ "Jaarrapport 2004" (PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 2005. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
  27. ↑ "Jaarrapport 2005" (PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 2006. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
  28. ↑ "Jaarrapport 2006" (PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 2007-01-11. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
  29. ↑ "Jaarrapport 2007" (PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 2008-01-11. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
  30. ↑ "Jaarrapport 2008" (PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 2009-01-19. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
  31. ↑ "Jaarrapport 2009" (PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 2010-01-19. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
  32. ↑ "Jaarrapport 2010" (PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 2011-01-18. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
  33. ↑ "Jaarrapport 2011" (PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 2012-01-18. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
  34. ↑ "Jaarrapport 2012" (PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 2013-01-07. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
  35. ↑ "Jaarrapport 2013" (PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 2014-01-20. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
  36. ↑ Source: GfK Romania S.R.L., Copyright: ARMADATA S.R.L. "Audientele statiilor TV membre ARMA". ARMA.
  37. ↑ "Årsrapport 2011" (PDF). Mediamätning i Skandinavien.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eurosport.