Golf Channel "launched in Poland and is initially being made available to Cyfrowy Polsat subscribers." According to Polish newspaper Puls Biznesu, the channel has been co-founded in the country by Marek Sowa, a former head of UPC Polska, Agora and Axel Springer Polska, who is also its chair of the board. Its licensor is NBC Sports Group, "which is supplying most of the channel's content." Although Golf Channel will "at first reach some 1.3 million homes covered by Cyfrowy Polsat, it aims to also secure carriage on cable networks and to double its overall reach in two years" (BROADBAND TV NEWS, 3/19).
Eurosport reinforced its position as the "Home of Cycling" in '17 with more races, more hours of live coverage and more local production, with over 200 days of live cycling and 2,300 hours of coverage across its channels. Eurosport will cover all three Grand Tours, with exclusive Giro d'Italia coverage, plus 25 Int'l Cycling Union (UCI) World Tour events, including all five Monuments. This year, Eurosport will show a record 21 Grand Tour stages live as part of 300 hours of coverage from cycling's three biggest events (Eurosport).
IMG launched Boomeo, a web-based esports platform featuring premium gaming content and exclusive educational tutorials from esports teams and professionals. Five professional esports organizations -- Cloud9, compLexity, Counter Logic Gaming, G2 Esports and SK Gaming -- and pro players and influencers, including Spencer Martin, Eric Hoag and Duncan Shields, partnered with Boomeo to provide exclusive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive instructional content for the platform (IMG).
Technology provider ADI and technical service provider Supponor, with Lagardère Sports, will showcase virtual perimeter advertising in a major roadshow at many Bundesliga clubs. The roadshow will start on March 21 in Hamburg's Volksparkstadion. Virtual advertising by Lagardère Sports and Supponor was used in Germany during the 2015 Telekom Cup (Lagardère Sports).
The Thursday night Europa League match between Ligue 1 side Olympique Lyonnais and Serie A side Roma drew an average audience of 2.02 million viewers on French free-TV channel W9. The numbers translated to a 9.3% market share. The match, which Roma won 2-1, drew a peak audience of 2.7 million (L’ÉQUIPE, 3/17).
Modern Times Group signed an agreement to "sell its free-TV, pay-TV, digital and radio businesses in the Baltic region to Providence Equity Partners." The transaction "values 100% of the business at an enterprise value" of €115M ($123.7M), which is 12 times fiscal year '16 EBIT. In a statement, MTG said that "it reflects the company's ongoing transformation from a traditional national broadcaster into a global digital entertainer" (BROADBAND TV NEWS, 3/17).
