EHF signs Champions League handball deals in Eastern Europe

Cable-television broadcaster RCS-RDS acquired rights in Romania for matches from the men’s and women’s tournaments for three seasons. It outbid several rivals, including free-to-air broadcaster ProTV, the incumbent. Coverage will be on basic-tier sports channel Digisport. It will show all matches featuring Romanian teams plus the men’s and women’s finals and matches featuring Romanian men’s and women’s teams in the secondary competition, the European Cup.

Media group Polsat acquired rights in Poland for matches from the men’s tournament in a three-season deal, outbidding incumbent TVP, the public-service broadcaster. Polsat will show all matches of Polish men’s team KS Vive Targi Kielce, and other matches including the men’s finals. Coverage will be on basic-tier sports channel Polsat Sport.

Satellite broadcaster Arena Sport acquired rights in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia, also in a three-season deal. It will show all matches featuring the teams in those territories, and will produce all their home matches. It will also show the men’s and women’s finals.

Russian pay-television operator NTV Plus extended its rights for the men’s and women’s tournaments for one season. It will broadcast all matches featuring Russian teams, producing their home matches, and show other matches, including the men’s and women’s finals.

The Sportsman Media Group (SMG) brokered the deals in Poland, the Balkans and Russia under a three-year consultancy deal with the EHF which finishes this year. SMG and the EHF are currently negotiating an extension to the consultancy agreement. EHF Marketing, the commercial rights marketing arm of the EHF, agreed the deal in Romania. The group stage of the 2010-11 Champions League tournament begins on September 22.