Discovery Communications announced an agreement to acquire a minority stake in RugbyPass -- a digital content platform that reaches rugby fans across 23 Asian markets with the world's best competitions -- live or on demand -- from any device. To further boost the offering, select content from Discovery-owned Setanta Sports Asia will be immediately available to all RugbyPass subscribers. Launched in Asia in February by Coliseum Sports Media, RugbyPass offers one destination including Super Rugby, Aviva Premiership, European Champions Cup and British Lions Tour in New Zealand in '17 -- all in high definition on the Internet or any app-enabled device (Discovery Communications).
24/7 ESPORTS: The world's largest eSports company ESL announced the launch of the world's first 24/7 eSports TV channel: eSports TV. The channel will launch in May on MTG's Viasat platforms in the Nordic and Baltic countries, and it aims to feature ESL's core competitions and tournaments. ESL and its parent company MTG are in talks with other TV distributors and platform operators to make the channel available around the world (ESL).
MEDIA BRIEFS ...
Cyprus operator Cyta said its Cytavision TV service has "secured the media rights for Premier League matches until 2019." Customers will be able to watch "more than 200 games each season from the English football league, exclusively from Cyta's sports channels." Cyta has held the rights since '14. No financial details of the new agreement "were disclosed" (TELECOM PAPER, 4/26).
Motorsport.com is expanding to Turkey through its acquisition of the country's most-visited motorsports website, TurkiyeF1.com. Motorsport.com will launch Motorsport.com - Turkey, a Turkish sister motor racing website which will cover all major racing series, including Formula 1, World Endurance Championship, MotoGP, World Rally Championship and Formula E (Motorsport.com).
