PRESS RELEASE published on 09 Aug 2018

EBU and sporting Federations celebrate the success of European Championships' multi-sports concept for broadcast

The EBU and sporting federations are celebrating a very strong start to the inaugural European Championships, which has seen extensive, high quality daily broadcast coverage delivered across Europe to millions of fans.

This vast coverage has been enabled through the EBU Member network, which includes the biggest free-to-air broadcasters across Europe, and the host broadcasting and distribution services from the EBU's business arm – Eurovision Media Services - and its subsidiary Eurovision Production Coordination (EPC).  

The EBU, along with its Members, partners and the sporting Federations, has worked hard from the inception of the combined European Championships to bring a truly innovative experience for audiences across Europe and worldwide. Broadcasters have gone ‘all in’ and offered audiences 8-10 hours of daily coverage, with all the elements for the full major event experience, resulting in exceptional exposure and presentation for the sports.

Matt Smith Executive Director of the World Rowing Federation (FISA) says “The massive coverage across Europe’s multitude of broadcasters has been fantastic as this 'aggregation effect' was a cornerstone goal of this first combined European Championships. Our athletes have really relished the major event feel, making these European Rowing Championships really memorable for them.

"We are also really impressed with the high quality of the host broadcast equipment, including a cable cam to cover the last 250 metres, the fantastic images created by the broadcast team and the four days of complete coverage, enabling such wide audiences to enjoy every minute of this great Championship.”

The European Cycling Union (UEC) President, Rocco Cattaneo says “This has been a very successful event so far for the many cycling disciplines and we’re really pleased with the broadcasts. The level of coverage across all of Europe’s biggest broadcasters has been fantastic and a really important part of this first multi-sport European Championships. We’re looking forward to lots more competition to come.”

Paolo Barelli, the Ligue Européenne de Natation (LEN) President says “The first days of the European Championships already demonstrated that the multisport event is a success and has a bright future. We’ve seen the first numbers and the least we can say is that all are encouraging. The first swimming sessions enjoyed brilliant shares in the most important markets such as Germany, France and Italy, not to mention the host nation, Great Britain.

“Hundreds of millions follow the Europeans all over the world and they have every cause to tune in day after day. Our fantastic athletes meet the highest demands, records fall day by day in the swimming pool, world class performances mark each session across all venues. Again, European aquatics proved that its top events belong to the must-watch sport showcases.

“While we praise our athletes, we cannot forget the great efforts of the organisers and ultimately those of the broadcasters. The sports involved cannot be grateful enough for EBU as the quality of the coverage is the best ever offered to LEN, involving special features for social media followers. Before the European Championships I emphasised everywhere that we would witness a great new chapter in our success story. Indeed, we are very much part of it now, and enjoy it very much.”

Stefan Kürten, EBU Director of Sport says “The EBU, our Member broadcasters and the Federations took on the challenge of this new event right from the start, with a desire to go ‘all out’ and deliver something really innovative and special for audiences and for the sports. With over 40 broadcasters offering vast daily coverage of the highest quality, it shows that this has really paid off.

"Only the united power of Europe’s free-to-air broadcasters, the EBU membership, can deliver this kind of coverage and support.”

 

The European Championships is a major new multisport event taking place every four years, which aggregates the existing senior continental championships of Athletics (European Athletics), Aquatics (LEN), Cycling (UEC), Gymnastics (UEG), Rowing (FISA), Triathlon (ETU), with a new Golf Team Championships (ET & LET) – all unified under a common brand. Athletics is taking place in Berlin from 7-12 August, while athletes from the other sports are competing in Glasgow 2-12 August.

The vision for the event is to create a must-watch, must-attend experience that elevates the Champions of Europe during an 11-day celebration of sport and packed 10-day broadcast schedule.

The EBU and Eurovision Media Services is acting as both the broadcast partner (representing European public service media) and the Host Broadcaster (overseeing the overall production of the event). EMS is also distributing the event to media organisations for TV and online platforms.