EUROSPORT EXTENDS TOUR DE FRANCE DEAL TO 2023 WITH COMPREHENSIVE EXCLUSIVITY ACROSS 38 EUROPEAN MARKETS

The four-year agreement will see Eurosport broadcast every single stage of the 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 editions of the world’s most famous cycling race exclusively in 38 countries**, with the first 75 minutes of action also exclusive in many of the remaining European markets.

The latest agreement extends Eurosport’s long association with the Tour de France into a 32nd year, with the event having first been shown on Europe’s number one sports destination in 1991. Rights to two of cycling’s five Monuments - Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège plus additional UCI World Tour events***, including additional exclusivities, are also part of the overall rights package.

Peter Hutton, Eurosport CEO, said: “We proudly claim to be the Home of Cycling and this new deal is further proof of that statement. We now have every minute of the Tour de France until 2023, meaning all the Grand Tours, the five Monuments and over 30 UCI World Tour events will be on Eurosport - over 200 days and 2,500 hours of live cycling coverage each year. The message for cycling fans is clear, Eurosport is the best place to follow the sport - we have every sprint, climb and breakaway from the biggest races covered on TV or on the go and on-demand via Eurosport Player.”

Hutton added: “The Tour de France remains the sport’s biggest event and we are delighted that the average viewing figures for this year’s Tour have increased, even when you consider we’ve delivered over 20 hours more live coverage compared to 2016. We remain committed to looking at ways to improve the production of the sport, using more access to data to give a clearer explanation of the stories of each day.”

The new deal follows last month’s announcement that Eurosport had enhanced its current contract allowing fans in 54 European markets to benefit from up to 25 hours more live Tour de France coverage for the next three editions of ‘Le Tour’, including, for the first time, every minute live. For this year’s Tour de France Eurosport is delivering 28% more live coverage of compared to 2016****.

In addition to its TV coverage, Eurosport continues to provide extensive digital coverage via the Eurosport Player, the live streaming and on-demand platform, which for this year’s Tour de France allows user to select up to seven additional camera streams. Europe’s No 1 online sports news website – Eurosport.com – complements the broadcast offer with extensive coverage of the sport and Discovery Communications’ recent investment in the Play Sports Group ensures that Eurosport content is accessible to a wider online community of cycling fans.

ENDS.

Notes to Editors

*After 16 stages of the event

**Fully exclusive markets (38): Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Sweden, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

***Full list of cycling events covered in the deal:

   · Tour de France

   · Paris-Roubaix

   · Liège-Bastogne-Liège

   · Flèche Wallonne

   · Paris-Nice

   · Critérium du Dauphiné

   · Paris-Tours

   · GP Francfort

****82 broadcast hours in 2016 versus 105 hours scheduled for 2017 Tour de France.