The Russian multi-platform operator Tricolor has launched a portfolio of new sports TV channels.
They include Sports, Hockey and Football, as well as a number of digital services offering live broadcasts of sports events.
Commenting on the development, Nikolai Orlov, deputy DG for content policy at Tricolor, said: “The mission of the project is to popularise Russian competitions, from professional to amateur. Tricolor’s technological capabilities allow us to show the maximum number of such events on our platforms. We plan to increase the share of live broadcasts from the venue of sporting events, as well as include in the broadcasting content around sports, for example, documentaries about legendary clubs and sports stars”.
In addition to hockey and football matches, viewers will see live broadcasts of tournaments in mixed martial arts, boxing, arm wrestling, wrestling, billiards, shooting competitions, rock climbing, alpine skiing, motor sports, rowing and snowmobile freestyle.
Vladimir Shirokov, general producer of Start TRC, which is the creative and technical contractor of Tricolor in the project, added: “When creating a sports TV channel, you can either buy a ready-made television product – the rights to broadcast already promoted foreign or international tournaments, or create it yourself. Tricolor chose the second path. It is more complex, but at the same time it opens up opportunities for the development of Russian sports in general. Together we have done long and painstaking work in order to create sports TV channels on this basis that are in demand by a wide audience of fans”.
Tricolor says that professional leagues and federations, including the Russian Football Union, the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, the amateur Night Hockey League and other sports organisations, have become partners of its sports project.
