Infront announced further 2006 FIFA World Cup agreements

Infront Sports & Media has reached exclusive agreements for the television rights of the 2006 FIFA World Cup for the territory defined as French speaking Belgium and in Czech Republic. The Belgium agreement is with RTBF - the public, free-to-air broadcaster for French speaking Belgium and it is an exclusive 'gatekeeper' deal. The announcement of the RTBF agreement means that the whole of Belgium is now contracted. In June, Infront reached agreement with two commercial free-to-air broadcasters - VTM of the VMMa Group and VT4 of the SBS Group - for the Flemish speaking rights. The Czech agreement signed with the Czech TV a public, free to air broadcaster that will ensure maximum coverage. Czech TV was a broadcast partner at the 2002 FIFA World Cup and is continuing its relationship. The majority of the European agreements for the broadcast of the 2006 FIFA World Cup are now in place, with recent announcements of deals with ARD/ZDF in Germany, as well as with RTL for a defined package of live rights; HRT for Croatia; the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation - SRG SSR idée suisse - for the Swiss broadcasting rights; NOS for Holland; EESTI Television for Estonia; the Romanian Television Corporation (TVR) and Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation SA (ERT) for Greece. "Coverage in Europe will be excellent," said Oliver Seibert, an Executive Director of Infront. "We expect interest in the event to reach very high levels in Belgium, given the favorable time zone, the fact that it is close to the host country and now with a total of three networks providing extensive coverage of the event. We are delighted with the RTBF deal, which will ensure the maximum French speaking audience for the 2006 FIFA World Cup."

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.