In April we wrote about the lack of an Australian broadcaster for the upcoming FINA Swimming World Championships in Kazan Russia (read more here). However fear of another Swimming World Championships not receiving TV coverage in Australia has now abated (the 2013 edition failed to secure a broadcaster in Australia) with news that Australia’s Olympic Network Seven has secured a long-term partnership with FINA.
Under the new agreement, Seven will be the Auatralian home for the FINA World Championships this year in Kazan and the FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary in 2017. The agreement delivers Seven the following rights:
- free broadcast television;
- subscription television;
- digital platforms, including mobile and online; and
- Hybrid Broadband Broadcast Television.
According to the press release, Seven will create and deliver the most comprehensive, technologically advanced, multi-platform coverage of the World Championships to all Australians on any communications device.
Saul Shtein, Seven’s Head of Sport, said:
“This is a great signing for Seven. We are looking forward to the upcoming Championships in Russia and we are delighted to once again be the network of the World Championships. Seven was the first network to broadcast the World Championships in primetime – the 1998 Championships that announced the arrival of Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett as World Champions in the lead-up to the Olympic Games in Sydney. The Championships are a great event and align perfectly with our long-term commitment to the Olympic Games.”
As Mr Shtein noted the fit for Seven in broadcasting the FINA World Championships is perfect given that Seven is the home of the Olympics in Australi, holds broadcast rights to this year’s European Games and the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
With swimming typically Australia’s strongest sport at the Olympics and the Summer Games only a year out, the World Championships are the perfect platform to grow awareness of Seven’s 2016 Olympic and Paralymic coverage.
Broadcast details are yet to come, but it is just great to know that World Championship swimming will once again be available to Australian viewers.
Reference