Lattelecom and Latvijas Televīzija secure exclusive six-year broadcasting rights to the Ice Hockey World Championship

Lattelecom and Latvijas Televīzija have secured the rights to broadcast Latvia’s most popular sporting event—the Ice Hockey World Championship—for the next six years. The partnership will ensure the broadest and best coverage: all World Championship games, interviews, behind-the-scenes content, game-day studios and other locally produced content. In addition, all games will be available on Lattelecom television via a dedicated hockey TV channel, for the first time in Latvia in HD quality and with a choice of Latvian or Russian audio. 

“This is an excellent example of a public television and business partnership, because together with Latvijas Televīzija we will provide viewers with the best and most comprehensive coverage of the hockey celebrations ever offered to hockey fans in Latvia. For Lattelecom television viewers, we will provide a dedicated hockey TV channel for the first time, allowing them to follow all championship games in HD quality 24/7,” says Lattelecom Chairman of the Board Juris Gulbis.

Ivars Belte, Chairman of the Board of Latvijas Televīzija, explains: “Our mission is to ensure that nationally significant events are available via free-to-air broadcasting and accessible to as broad a segment of the population as possible. The Ice Hockey Championship is an event that unites the population and, every spring, is an unparalleled celebration for Latvian supporters. We are therefore pleased that the cooperation between Latvijas Televīzija and Lattelecom will ensure this in the future.”

The cooperation between Lattelecom and Latvijas Televīzija will provide not only the opportunity to follow the games, but also unique and exclusive content on social media, interviews, behind-the-scenes material, videos of the best moments and other content, produced by LTV’s professional sports journalism team. On LTV7, the championship’s evening games will be broadcast live every game day, along with daytime games involving the Latvian national team.

All games will be available on Lattelecom television via a dedicated Ice Hockey Championship TV channel and 360TV. Viewers of Interactive TV and the Shortcut app will be able to watch all games in HD quality. In addition, Lattelecom will be the only operator to offer viewers a choice of watching the games with commentary in Latvian or Russian. 

The broadcasting rights secured by Lattelecom and Latvijas Televīzija are based on an agreement with Infront Sports & Media, the exclusive media and marketing partner of the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Ice Hockey World Championship. The agreement covers broadcasting rights from the 2018 championship, which will take place in Denmark, through 2023. 

Bruno Marty, Managing Director of Infront’s Winter Sports division: “We always strive to ensure comprehensive event coverage for both free-to-air and pay-TV viewers. The long-term agreement concluded in Latvia gives our flagship hockey product significant exposure in an important market. We are pleased that broadcasters recognize the benefits of long-term commitments, and we thank Lattelecom and Latvijas Televīzija for their trust in us and the product we represent.”