The station has secured exclusive rights in the country and will also promote the Games via its popular Sky Sport 24 news channel to increase awareness and share the excitement of the inaugural European Games.
“We are very pleased to have agreed this deal with Sky Italia to guarantee extensive coverage of the European Games in Italy,” Mr Simon Clegg, Chief Operating Officer of Baku 2015, said.
“As one of the continent’s most successful sporting nations, we are expecting Italy to send a very strong team to Baku 2015 in pursuit of gold medals and glory.”
Founded in 2003, Sky Italia has 4.7 million subscribers and an audience of more than 13 million viewers in the country, and is considered one of Europe’s most respected sports broadcasters.
The company broadcasts the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games and also holds the rights for the Italy’s premier football competition Serie A, as well as the Bundesliga, UEFA Champions League and the European Qualifiers.
“The first European Games will be a brilliant celebration of sport enjoyed by the whole continent and we are very proud to be providing coverage in our country,” Mr Matteo Mammì, Director of Sport Rights, Programming and Production at Sky Italia, said.
“We are very much looking forward to a thrilling 17 days of competition in Baku and bringing the best of all the action to our subscribers.”
“We are delighted that the first European Games will be available for sports fans to view on the leading Italian TV broadcaster, as well as its online and mobile platforms,” Mr Giovanni Malagò, President of the Italian National Olympic Committee, said.
“This is great news for our athletes and millions of supporters, and I am sure this will help make Baku 2015 a success in Italy.”
“International broadcast sales are progressing very well, and it is fantastic that we have signed this agreement to broadcast the Games with such a renowned channel as Sky Italia,” Mr Charlie Wijeratna, Commercial Director of Baku 2015, added.
“The deal is another success for Baku 2015 and reflects the continued interest we are receiving from major broadcasters around the world. There will be more announcements relating to European countries in the coming months as we convert the deals we have agreed in principle into long-form contracts.”
Baku 2015 is the first ever European Games, an exciting and innovative multi-sport event for the continent which will take place from 12 – 28 June 2015.
There will be a total of 20 sports at Baku 2015: 16 Olympic sports and four non-Olympic sports. More than 6,000 athletes from across Europe will be representing their nations over 17 days of competition.
Eleven of the sports will offer qualification opportunities for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Those sports include Archery, Athletics, Boxing, Cycling, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Triathlon, Wrestling and Volleyball.
Baku was awarded the Games by the European Olympic Committees (EOC) in December 2012. The Baku European Games Operations Committee (BEGOC) will organise and run the Games in co-operation with the EOC.
Sky Italia is the Italian media company owned by Sky plc. Born in 2003, its customer base has grown very quickly and in September 2014 the number of subscribed families reached 4.7 million. Sky currently offers more than 160 thematic and pay per view channels, with a rich offering of movies, sports, news, entertainment and kids programming. Sky was the first Italian television station to broadcast in HD and live in 3D, and offers a pack of more than 60 HD channels and one channel entirely dedicated to 3D programs. Moreover, My Sky HD makes it possible to easily record favourite programs and to access the Sky On Demand service, whereas with Sky Go, subscribers can watch on the move a wide selection of Sky’s channels and on demand contents.
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