The IOF and Swedish national broadcaster SVT have signed a 3-year rights agreement for broadcasting of IOF championship events and the Orienteering World Cup for the years 2020 – 2022.
SVT broadcast the productions from the World Orienteering Championships 2019 to a very interested Swedish audience. For example, more than 400 000 Swedish TV viewers watched the Swedish teams take double gold medals in the mens’ and womens’ relay competitions at the World Championships.
– With a world-class Swedish national team and modern TV productions, orienteering has become an exciting TV sport that engages viewers. The World Orienteering Championships last year was a real success with our audience and we are therefore very happy to have secured a long-term agreement for 6 international championships, says Åsa Edlund Jönsson, Head of Sports at SVT.
The agreement includes guaranteed live coverage of competitions at the World Orienteering Championships and European Orienteering Championships for the next 3 years. In addition, SVT has procured the rights to broadcast Orienteering World Cup events in the same timeframe and will determine the use of those rights on a case-by-case basis.
– The IOF is pleased to communicate this exciting news, says Tom Hollowell, IOF Secretary General & CEO.– We have had excellent cooperative discussions with SVT and the Swedish Orienteering Federation around the development of our TV offering and having this first longer-term agreement in place is an acknowledgement of orienteering as an interesting sporting experience for spectators and viewers. This agreement is also very important to us as we strive to work with other national broadcast partners in both established and new markets.