Eurosport 2 is to join its sister channel in the launch of a HD feed. The new service, scheduled to launch in the next few days, will include coverage of US Open tennis, Superbikes WCH, and the Bundesliga, where the channel has secured exclusive rights in 22 territories. Eurosport International launched its HD feed in May 2008.
“Eurosport 2 has a strong pan-European offer of team, action, youth and discovery sports. The channel enables the Eurosport Group to position itself as a powerful regional player ? in touch and in tune with the ever-changing needs of the local markets,” said Laurent-Eric Le Lay, Eurosport’s Chairman and CEO.
The broadcaster says that its pillar sports will be broadcast in native HD in markets where the HD feed is available. These are Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Czech Republic, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden. An agreement has already been signed with the DTH operator n, making Eurosport the only sports broadcaster in the Polish market to have all of its channels available in HD.
Three new language versions, Danish, Czech and Bulgarian, are also being added to the standard definition service.
Eurosport 2 will broadcast five live matches from the Bundesliga each weekend, one on Friday evenings, two on Saturday and two in Sunday. There will also be a Friday preview show and Sunday highlights package. Exclusive coverage has been secured for all but Hungary, Romania and Albania.
Eurosport 2 is currently broadcast to 36 million homes in 46 countries.
