Infront Turkey and Tivibu announce three-year broadcast rights agreement for The Tahincioğlu Basketball Super League (BSL)

ISTANBUL, 06-Jul-2018 — /EuropaWire/ — The Tahincioğlu Basketball Super League (BSL) will reach a broader audience than ever before after Infront Turkey and Turkish broadcaster Tivibu announced a three-year broadcast rights agreement on Thursday.

The new partnership will see Tivibu position BSL as a flagship product with the league becoming a central pillar to its digital transformation.

The agreement includes both the men’s and women’s BSL as well as the Turkish Cup and is the biggest ever investment between the BSL and a broadcaster.

Digital footprint to expand BSL appeal

With over 1.5 million subscribers Tivibu is one of Turkey’s top online sports broadcasters. With a focus on digitally transforming the traditional broadcast model, the organisation’s strong social media presence will see BSL enhance and expand its influence to a wider range of sports fan.

Of the eight games taking place each week in the BSL, six will be on PayTV with the remaining two broadcast on free-to-air channels as well as through the Turkish Basketball Federation YouTube channel. There will also be an improvement in production quality through strong technological developments planned by Tivibu.

Tivibu’s experience in delivering a digitally enhanced product also opens up new opportunities and inventories for sponsors, increasing the value of the league further. Furthermore, Tivibu’s parent company, Turk Telekom, will also provide support with its 45 million unique mobile users, expandingthe presence of BSL to sports fans.

BSL able to attract younger subscribers

Paul Doany, CEO of Turk Telekom has stated: “We are transforming the traditional broadcasting strategy to a customer friendly, tech-based, rich in context broadcasting landscape. With 2.9 million subscribers, we are creating and broadcasting a unique experience with through a rich variety of channels including 15 sports channels. We are thrilled to place Basketball Super League as our flagship product as we are in the root of transforming the sports broadcasting strategy of the company. We believe both parties will add significant value to each other.”

Ender Uslu, Managing Director of Infront Turkey, said: “Tivibu has made their intention of digitally transforming broadcasting clear, and this aligns perfectly with how BSL and Infront foresee the future of the league. Their strong presence across a range of digital channels as well as their belief that basketball will and BSL will attract younger subscribers underlines the fact that the BSL remains one of the strongest basketball properties in the world. I am delighted with this new agreement and look forward to working together with them to take the sport to new heights.”

Hidayet Türkoğlu, President of Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF) has stated: “This is a historical agreement signed between TBF and Tivibu. A very significant point was to provide an enhanced income flow to our clubs in Men’s League and Women’s League, while we add significant value to the Turkish Basketball. The main correspondent was to be part of every house in the country, as we sign the deal with Tivibu. We thank Tivibu, as they bid the highest price for the Basketball and showed their faith in us, and the future of Basketball in Turkey. We believe this agreement will in addition be a milestone in developing Turkish Basketball among the youth.”

About Infront

Infront is a leading sports marketing company managing a comprehensive portfolio of top properties. Infront covers all aspects of successful sporting events, including the distribution of media rights, sponsorship, media production, event operation and digital solutions. Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, Infront has a team of more than 1,000 staff working from over 38 offices across more than 14 countries, delivering 4,100 event days of top class sport around the world every year. In 2015, Infront was integrated into Wanda Sports Group, part of Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group.

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