Programmes with a live studio audience are to be introduced
It has been known for some time that Oneplay Sport is setting up a new television studio in the Stages Praha building. The pay-TV sports channels are due to move to the new premises in the middle of the summer holidays.“We’ve got a really busy month ahead of us. A new studio, new facilities, moving the editorial team and loads of details that need to fall into place,” explained Marek Kindernay on the professional social network LinkedIn.“It’ll be a big step forward. But it’s precisely moments like these that make the world of television so enjoyable for me,” he says. The new studio will also feature a visitor area with capacity for up to 80 spectators. It will therefore be used to film programmes for which Oneplay Sport has an audience, such as the popular sports show TIKI-TAKA.
However, Oneplay Sport doesn’t want to limit itself to just this one programme and is also planning others that will feature a live audience. The channel is keeping the focus of these programmes a closely guarded secret for now. What is no longer a secret, however, is the preparation of a major opening event to mark the start of the new Chance League season, which Oneplay Sport is organising in collaboration with the League Football Association (LFA). The broadcasts themselves will feature new technological elements which, according to Marek Kindernay, will take the viewing experience to the next level. Will this be ‘Match Buddy’, which is currently used by Česká televize and Nova and offers a special stream that runs alongside the main broadcast, combining multi-angle coverage with live multiview statistics, allowing viewers to see footage from several cameras simultaneously on a single screen? That has not yet been officially confirmed.
The new Chance Liga season kicks off on 25 July
In reality, fans will find out the details in just under a month at the latest, as the new 2026/27 Chance Liga season kicks off with its first round on 25 July – just one week after the World Cup final. Oneplay Sport once again holds the exclusive rights to the entire competition. Last season ended on a record-breaking note: it delivered the most-watched broadcast of a league match in the history of its coverage on the Oneplay pay-TV channels (formerly O2 TV Sport). This was the March derby between Slavia and Sparta, which was watched by 724,445 viewers. Overall, viewership of the Chance League rose by 23% year-on-year last season. This was partly due to the merger of the O2 TV and Voyo services, which took place last March and was accompanied by a major marketing campaign focused specifically on sport.
“We regard such a significant year-on-year increase in viewership as an exceptionally strong result and confirmation of the long-term trend we have been seeing around the Chance League in recent seasons. Interest in Czech league football is growing in stadiums, in the media and on television screens. It is becoming clear that the league is able to appeal not only to the loyal fan bases of individual clubs, but also to the wider public across generations, for whom it is becoming an attractive sporting and social event,” says Daniel Hajný, LFA’s Commercial and Marketing Director, assessing the results. The aforementioned March derby between Slavia and Sparta became the most-watched sports broadcast in the history of the Oneplay Sport channels. Until now, the same derby from the 2024/25 season had held the record with 532,000 viewers. Three matches exceeded this figure last season, and others came very close to it.
Preparations for the new Oneplay Sport studio, from which broadcasts will begin as early as July; Source: Oneplay Sport / Marek KindernayAmbitions? To break the one-million-viewers-per-match barrier
“At Oneplay Sport, we’ve long been striving to improve not only the quality of the broadcasts themselves, but also the entire viewing experience surrounding the Chance League. Thanks to the unique Oneplay service, fans have access to live broadcasts, highlights, key moments in the player and statistical data all in one place – clearly organised, at any time and on any device. An important part of this are also related formats, such as the popular TIKI-TAKA show, which also recorded record viewing figures in May. All of this significantly helps the Chance League to reach an ever-wider audience,” says Marek Kindernay. However, both he and the LFA believe that they have not yet fully tapped into the Czech league’s potential and that the figures could rise even higher.“Thanks in part to the excellent collaboration with Oneplay Sport, which helps to constantly improve the quality and appeal of the broadcasts themselves, we want to continue growing in the coming seasons. Our ambition is for the most-watched league matches to approach the one-million-viewer mark in the future,” revealed Hajný.
The overall growth in viewership of the Chance League has been steady over the last few years. Whilst this year saw a year-on-year increase of 23 per cent, last year viewership of the top domestic football league rose by 9 per cent. Over the last two seasons, viewership of live Chance Liga broadcasts has thus risen by approximately a third.“The Chance Liga is establishing a stable position amongst the most-watched sporting products on the market, whilst also reaching new audience groups. This confirms to us that investment in league football makes sense in the long term and has a significant impact across the Czech population,” says Martin Ptáčník, head of sponsorship at the Chance League’s title partner.
Source: televizniweb.mediar.cz