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The NHL has agreed to a new broadcast partnership with pan-European sports network Eurosport in Russia. Eurosport, a subsidiary of Discovery Communications, secured all broadcast and select multi-platform rights to North America's premier hockey league over the next three seasons. The network will show an average of 10 games per week live on Eurosport and its on-demand digital platform, Eurosport Player, a company spokesperson told SBD Global. The network did not disclose financial terms of the deal. The three-year agreement begins with the '16-17 season and runs through the end of the '18-19 season. It is the first time Eurosport will feature the NHL in its program. Eurosport CEO Peter Hutton said the deal is further evidence of the network's increased focus on premium content. "Eurosport’s first ever deal with the NHL ... [is] yet another example of our renewed focus of offering premium and must-have sport content to fans," Hutton said. In its biggest sports rights coup to date, Eurosport last year acquired
Olympic broadcast rights for most European countries from '18-24 in a €1.3B deal with the IOC. The network's addition of the NHL will now enable viewers in Russia to get an up-close look at the world's best hockey players leading up to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games. However, Eurosport's Olympic rights package does not include the Russian Federation and participation of NHL players in South Korea appears
more than doubtful. The NHL previously aired on VGTRK | RTR and NTV+ in Russia. The deal was brokered by IMG after the agency signed a deal with the NHL to market and distribute its
global media rights in October.
