The EBU has renewed its agreement with World Aquatics for the exclusive live, highlights and delayed audiovisual media rights on all platforms across Europe for a further three-year period between 2024 and 2026.
The agreement comprises all of World Aquatics key events over the period, including the World Aquatics Championships in 2024 & 2025 as well as World Swimming Championships 2024 & 2026, World Junior Swimming Championships in 2025 and annual World Cup series in each of World Aquatics’ six sports: Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, Artistic Swimming, Open Water Swimming and High Diving.
The partnership, facilitated by World Aquatics’ media rights agent Sportfive, covers all EBU territories, excluding the host territory for each World Cup event.
A total of 25 EBU Members have already committed to cover the events, as follows: BHRT (Bosnia Herzegovina); BNT (Bulgaria); HRT (Croatia); CYBC (Cyprus); YLE (Finland); France Televisions (France); ZDF (Germany); ERT (Greece); MTVA (Hungary); RUV (Iceland); RAI (Italy); LRT (Lithuania); RTCG (Montenegro); NOS (Netherlands); RTV (North Macedonia); TVP (Poland); RTP (Portugal); TVR (Romania); RTS (Serbia); STVR (Slovakia); RTVS (Slovenia); RTVE (Spain); SVT (Sweden); SRG SSR (Switzerland) and, for 2024, TRT (Turkey).
In total, EBU Members are expected to offer a minimum cumulative 2,000 hours of coverage of World Aquatics events across all their platforms during the period. EurovisionSport.com, the EBU’s digital sports platform, will complement this coverage, ensuring that every event in the World Aquatics line-up is seen free-to-air across the EBU footprint.
News rights are included for the EBU’s Members in North Africa.
World Aquatics President Husain Al-Musallam praised the EBU extension: “We are thrilled to extend our partnership with the European Broadcasting Union for another three years. This renewed agreement solidifies aquatics across Europe and ensures that our sports continue to reach a wide audience, inspiring the next generation of athletes. With the EBU’s extensive coverage and commitment to showcasing our events, we look forward to bringing the excitement of aquatics to fans everywhere, promoting the values of excellence, teamwork, and perseverance inherent in our sports.”
Adrian Fikentscher, Director of Acquisitions, Sales, and Partnerships at the EBU, shared the excitement of the partnership renewal: “We’re delighted to continue our strong partnership with World Aquatics. This renewed agreement underscores our commitment to providing comprehensive coverage of aquatics sports across our territories throughout Europe. With 25 EBU Members already on board and EurovisionSport.com as a complement, we’re ensuring that fans in Europe and beyond will have access to over 2,000 hours of top-tier aquatic events free-to-air. This deal not only enhances the visibility of these exciting competitions but also supports the growth and development of aquatics sports globally.”