Eurosport Gold has been launched in Russia by Rostelecom and made exclusively available to the latter’s 4.5 million “Interactive TV” subscribers.
According to Rostelecom, the channel is the result of cooperation between the telco and Media Alliance, which develops and distributes channels in the Discovery and Eurosport portfolio. It is based on the content of Eurosport 2 and the only channel in Russia that will broadcast key matches from the National Hockey League (NHL).
Commenting on the launch of Eurosport Gold, Andrei Golovanov, director of content policy at Rostelecom, said: “It is symbolic that the start of broadcasting of Eurosport Gold in” Interactive TV “falls in the year when we celebrate the 35th anniversary of the legendary super series of USSR-Canada, thanks to which in our country we got acquainted with the strongest NHL hockey players. The portrait of the NHL is largely determined by players from Russia, it is enough to recall Alexander Ovechkin or Evgeni Malkin. Now, numerous Russian fans and fans can watch games of NHL’s regular series and playoffs live on air, and other of world’s most prestigious competitions”.
Grigory Lavrov, general director of the Media Alliance Company, added: “The launch of Eurosport Gold is an important step in strengthening our fruitful and long-term cooperation with Rostelecom, whose subscribers have a full portfolio of Discovery and Eurosport, including HD, channels. We believe in sports and strive to develop our proposals in the field of sports television, relying on the highest quality content from around the world and the expertise of the Media Alliance team”.
Eurosport Gold is offered in SD in Interactive TV’s Your Optimal, Your Advanced and Your Maximum packages, as well as in HD in the Your Ideal HD package.
Interactive TV offers viewers over 200 TV channels, at least 60 of which are in HD.
Its additional features include a video library, free multiscreen and a karaoke service.