EUROSPORT

'Eurosport' is the largest European sports satellite and cable network available in 54 countries and broadcasting in 20 different languages. It is owned by the TF1 Group.
Eurosport offers viewers varied sports such as UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, UEFA Cup football, the Paris Dakar Rally, Monte Carlo Rally, the Olympics, cycling events such as Le Tour de France, tennis events including the French Open and the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, World Championship Snooker, Australian Football League, wintersports and youth sports like skating and surfing.
Eurosport is often provided by cable operators as part of their basic package. The channel is popular, and when NTL replaced Eurosport on their Dublin analogue system with CNBC, there was outrage among the Irish tabloid press. In the UK, British Eurosport launched in 1999, replacing Eurosport International on most platforms and this channel has some schedule changes as well as local commentary.
Eurosport is shown in most countries across Europe, often with the commentary in the local language, but not necessarily local advertising. Most European countries also have domestic sports channels, which are more likely to show premium events than Eurosport.
Currently there are a number of channels that are broadcast under the Eurosport name: 'Eurosport' (France, British, Deutschland, Italia, Poland, Nordic and Asia Pacific), 'Eurosport 2' (versions for all Eurosport regions except Asia Pacific) and 'Eurosport News'. SportItalia is also part of the group.

Contents

History

British Eurosport presenters

Eurosport 2

Eurosportnews

Motorsport

See also

Press Release

External links

History

Eurosport was launched in 1989 as a joint venture between the European Broadcasting Union and Sky Television plc. When Sky merged with BSB they decided to focus on the BSB originated The Sports Channel, which was renamed Sky Sports.
Eurosport was closed down in May 1991, after the competing Screensport channel had filed a complaint to the European Economic Commission over the corporate structure. The channel was however saved when the TF1 Group stepped in to replace BSkyB. A new Eurosport channel was able to start its broadcasts the same month.
On March 15 1993, cable and satellite channel Screensport merged with Eurosport.
Eurosport eventually came under the ownership French consortium, comprised of the TF1 Group, Canal+ Group and Havas Images. Since January 2001 it has been completely owned by TF1.

British Eurosport presenters

British Eurosport have Live Studio presentations of major Sporting events and Tournaments. The Tour de France is presented by James Richardson with Tour veteran commentator and journalist David "Duffers" Duffield. Viewers following the Tour are often entertained by the humorous reports from British Eurosport reporter Andy Botros, who is fast becoming a cult figure.
James Richardson previously hosted the coverage of Serie A football on the Channel from 2002 to 2005 and 2004 UEFA European Football Championship with regular guests Alan Curbishley, DJ Spoony, former Chelsea FC players Paul Elliott, Ed de Goey, Ray Wilkins, Roberto Di Matteo and current goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini, former England International Luther Blissett and European football journalists Gabriele Marcotti and Xavier Rivoire. Will Vanders is known for his spirited coverage of K-1 events, and greets the viewer in Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Thai before introducing the event at Fight Club, martial arts program which is broadcasted on Mondays generally.
The Australian Open, French Open, U.S. Open (tennis) and WTA Tour Championships on British Eurosport also include a studio presentation normally hosted by Annabel Croft with Hawk-Eye presented by Former British number 2 Jason Goodall.
British Eurosport currently are covering live Greyhound racing on Sunday nights from Sittingbourne and Blackburn Rovers F.C's exploits in Europe this season. British Eurosport are reportedly set to cover national league rugby league matches from 2007.[1]
British Eurosport covers the snooker season including ranking events not shown by BBC Television like the Malta Cup and China Open.

Eurosport 2

A 2nd channel featuring more live sports events, sports programmes, news updates and more. Eurosport 2 launched on January 10, 2005 and is currently available in 35 countries, broadcasting in 9 different languages English, French, Italian, German, Greek, Russian, Polish, Romanian and Turkish.
Eurosport 2 is really "the new generation sports channel", dedicated to team sports, alternative sports, discovery and entertainment. Basketball, National Lacrosse League, Arena Football League, Surfing, Handball Champions League and more.

Eurosportnews

A sports news channel launched on September 1, 2000. It features live scores, highlights, breaking news and commentary. The service combines video, text and graphics with the screen being divided into 4 sections. A video section that displays highlights and news bulletins, a breaking news ticker at the bottom and a scoring section that gives in-depth analysis of results and game stats.

Motorsport

Eurosport is a partner with KSO, the organizers of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC). Eurosport broadcasts every WTCC race live. Before 2006, both the WTCC and the FIA GT Championship are broadcast by Eurosport. But Eurosport requested SRO, the FIA GT Championship organizers, to shorten their race from 3 hours to 2 hours. SRO refused and since then it has not been on the bill with the WTCC.
Ironically, after a year looking for European broadcasters for their 3 hour races, the SRO decided that for 2007, the FIA GT Championship races will be shortened to 2 hours.
GP2 Series is also Broadcast on Eurosport although BBC and ITV are all chasing the rights.

See also

★ Sports channel

★ Broadcasting of sports events

★ Euronews

Press Release

★ Eurosport launched in Asia

★ Eurosport Launched in Hong Kong

External links

★ Official Site

★ Eurosport TV Listings and Schedules

★ Eurosport 2 TV Listings and Schedules