Sports television quietly launched on U1
On Saturday, Swiss Sports Television aired a live broadcast of the Handball Champions League for the first time in a programming slot on U1. The launch, originally announced for September, was delayed primarily due to the dispute with Cablecom and the pending licensing decision by Bakom.
On Saturday, Schweizer Sport Fernsehen broadcast live coverage of the Handball Champions League for the first time in a program window on U1. The national handball match between Kadetten SH GCZ and BSV Bern Muri will be the first regular live broadcast of the new specialty channel on Wednesday. Managing Director Pascal Jenny told Werbewoche that the channel wants to reach its full size by January 1, 2008 with six to seven hours of broadcasting time per day. Contrary to earlier announcements (see:
), Swiss sports television was not launched in September. "This was mainly delayed by the dispute with Cablecom and the pending licensing decision by Bakom," says Jenny. "This also made negotiations with the various sports associations more difficult, although there is huge interest in principle." Cablecom wanted to remove the carrier channel U1 from the offer, but must continue to operate it for the time being due to a super-provisional ruling. Jenny describes the collaboration with U1 as very profitable; "a new line of business is emerging for U1 with sports television." However, with increasing sports content, previous U1 content would have to make way. Less eroticism and less Mike Shiva. In terms of sport, there will probably be three areas: Live broadcasts in the evening before, quiz and news programs during the day and repeats in the morning.
Talks are underway with SF about possible coordination of the program. "We complement SF's offering with fringe and popular sports. However, if SF should ever produce programs from this area, we will stand back," says Jenny. Schweizer Sport Fernsehen is also in talks with TSR and TSI via SF in the event of supra-regional matches and the corresponding program exchange.
Jenny believes there is a good chance of Bakom's decision in the next one to two months. The successive expansion of the program is therefore being driven forward at full speed - also to signal to Bakom that the broadcaster is serious. "We are currently in talks with x associations. For example, we hope to reach an agreement with floorball, volleyball and Swiss Ski in the near future. I expect agreements to be reached almost daily."
Michael Koller
), Swiss sports television was not launched in September. "This was mainly delayed by the dispute with Cablecom and the pending licensing decision by Bakom," says Jenny. "This also made negotiations with the various sports associations more difficult, although there is huge interest in principle." Cablecom wanted to remove the carrier channel U1 from the offer, but must continue to operate it for the time being due to a super-provisional ruling. Jenny describes the collaboration with U1 as very profitable; "a new line of business is emerging for U1 with sports television." However, with increasing sports content, previous U1 content would have to make way. Less eroticism and less Mike Shiva. In terms of sport, there will probably be three areas: Live broadcasts in the evening before, quiz and news programs during the day and repeats in the morning.
Talks are underway with SF about possible coordination of the program. "We complement SF's offering with fringe and popular sports. However, if SF should ever produce programs from this area, we will stand back," says Jenny. Schweizer Sport Fernsehen is also in talks with TSR and TSI via SF in the event of supra-regional matches and the corresponding program exchange.
Jenny believes there is a good chance of Bakom's decision in the next one to two months. The successive expansion of the program is therefore being driven forward at full speed - also to signal to Bakom that the broadcaster is serious. "We are currently in talks with x associations. For example, we hope to reach an agreement with floorball, volleyball and Swiss Ski in the near future. I expect agreements to be reached almost daily."
Michael Koller
