Prima will broadcast AC Sparta Prague’s home match in the third qualifying round of the Champions League. The live broadcast will be shown on the new Prima sport channel, which viewers will be able to tune into even before its official launch, scheduled for 17 August.
The Prima Group has secured the broadcasting rights for AC Sparta Prague’s home match in the third qualifying round of the Champions League. The match will also serve as the first major sporting event for the new Prima sport channel, which viewers will be able to tune into even before its official launch. If the Czech runners-up succeed in the third qualifying round, they will go on to face a final play-off for a place in the Champions League group stage.
AC Sparta Prague will face French side Olympique Lyon in the third qualifying round. The first legs will be played on 4 and 5 August, with the return legs taking place on 11 August.
The broadcast will be complemented by a special pre-match studio, expert analysis and immediate post-match reactions. “The Champions League represents the pinnacle of European club football, and a Czech club’s journey towards qualifying for it always attracts extraordinary attention from fans. We are delighted that our viewers will be able to follow the key moments of Sparta’s qualifying campaign,” said Martin Švehlák, Director of the News, Current Affairs and Sport Division at the Prima Group.
According to Tomáš Křivda, CEO of AC Sparta Prague, Sparta’s European matches have long been among the most-watched sports broadcasts in the Czech Republic. The club is also in talks with the opposing side regarding the possibility of broadcasting the away match.
Securing the rights to Sparta’s qualifying match is part of Prima’s strategy to strengthen its sports content, and comes ahead of the launch of the new sports channel, Prima sport. Back in July, Prima broadcast the women’s singles final at Wimbledon, featuring Linda Nosková and Karolína Muchová.
The new Prima sport channel will be officially launched on 17 August. It will be available free-to-air via DVB-T2 terrestrial broadcasting on the nationwide Broadcasting Network 24 (multiplex 24). Viewers will be able to tune in by searching for channels automatically or manually on their televisions or set-top boxes that support the DVB-T2 standard.
The Prima Group is thus expanding its sports portfolio and entering the specialist sports channel segment, where channels from the Nova Group and Czech Television, for example, are already active. The broadcast of Sparta’s qualifying match is set to be one of the new channel’s first major content highlights.
Source: mediaguru.cz
