Switzerland’s largest cable operator UPC has "secured the TV rights from the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation" for the live transmission of the Swiss ice-hockey games from the '17-18 season for five years. The rights "were previously held by competitor Swisscom and its pay-TV subsidiary Teleclub." For the coverage, Liberty Global-owned UPC "wants to build up a new pay-TV sports channel named MySports in collaboration with cable operator association Suissedigital and its members" (BROADBAND TV NEWS, 7/1).
BUZZARD OUT: Channel Nine cricket producer Brad “Buzzard” McNamara "resigned after 18 years with the broadcaster." Head of Sport Tom Malone "confirmed the departure in an all staff email." A replacement "has not yet been named." McNamara "led Nine’s cricket coverage," including Test Matches, ODIs, and T20s, for the past nine years, having worked in the sports department for the past 18 years (THE AUSTRALIAN, 7/5).
WEBSITE REVAMP: Man City relaunched its website "with a number of new features and at a new url, mancity.com." The new site "is the result of a long consultancy process involving multiple rounds of focus groups, surveys, prototype designs, and user." Designed principally around a mobile experience (rather than a desktop), the site "is streamlined and enabled for all devices, with users being able to access their preferred content quickly." New features "include City Now, a continuous stream of quick, real-time news, opinions, and social highlights" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 7/5).
MEDIA BRIEFS ...
Germany's 24-hour sports news channel Sky Sport News HD was able to increase its average viewership by 36% over the past year from 430,000 in '14-15 to 580,000 between July '15 to June '16. The channel's total reach was 6.99 million viewers during the previous fiscal year (5.13 million in '14-15). Sky Sport News HD set a new viewership record on Nov. 22 as 910,000 viewers watched the channel's program (Sky Sport News HD).
Bundesliga club FC Schalke has restructured its club TV offering. Club members will get free access to the content under the structure. Not included in the free offering is game footage, which members can add for €15 ($16.60) annually. Schalke's club-TV platform, which is produced by Laola1, will also receive a facelift (Schalke).
