Eurosport 1 is a television sports network channel which is a division of Eurosport and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Discovery took a 20% minority interest share in December 2012,[1] and became majority shareholder in the Eurosport venture with TF1 in January 2014, taking a 51% share of the company,[2] On 22 July 2015 Discovery agreed to acquire TF1's remaining 49% stake in the venture.[3]
The channel is available in 73 countries, in 21 languages providing viewers with European and international sporting events. Eurosport first launched on European satellites on 5 February 1989. On 13 November 2015 Eurosport changed the name of its main channel into Eurosport 1.[4]
Eurosport provides viewers with European and international sporting events, certain events are not available in a particular country due to Eurosport not being the rights holder in that territory.
Eurosport Events is the Eurosport group's world-class sporting events management/promotion/production division, which promotes the FIAWorld Touring Car Championship (WTCC), the FIA European Touring Car Cup and the FIA European Rally Championship. Eurosport broadcasts every WTCC race live and every ERC rally either live or with daily highlights.
Eurosport Events (formerly known as 'KSO Kigema Sports Organisation Ltd') was also the promoter of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, a rival rallying series to the World Rally Championship. The IRC ceased at the end of the 2012 season, with Eurosport taking over series promotion of the ERC from 2013.
Since 2008, the Eurosport Group has also been broadcasting the annual 24 Hours of Le Mans in full.
Early in the station's history, professional wrestling from both sides of the Atlantic was covered, with the WWF's Superstars of Wrestling as well as New Catch filmed mostly in France by the European Wrestling Federation with some German/Austrian footage by the Catch Wrestling Association and featuring a mixture of British, French and German wrestlers (many of them veterans of coverage on Britain's ITV and France's Antenne 2 and FR3 channels.)
In June 2015 it was announced that Eurosport had secured the pan-European rights (except Russia) to the winter and summer Olympic Games between 2018 and 2024.[6]
In Europe, Eurosport 1 is generally available in basic cable and satellite television packages. Since 1999, Eurosport 1 provides various opt-out services providing more relevant sporting content specific to language, advertising and commentary needs. Eurosport offers a stand-alone channel which provides a standardised version of the channel (Eurosport International in English). Alongside this there are also local Eurosport channels in France, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Poland, Nordic region, Benelux region, and Asia Pacific. These channels offer greater sporting content with local sporting events, while also utilising the existing pan-European feed. The German version of Eurosport is the only one available free-to-air on European digitalsatellite television.
Eurosport 1 is currently broadcast in twenty one languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Russian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Greek, Turkish and Persian.
On 9 March 2022, Discovery Inc. closed Eurosport 1 in Russia due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.[7]
Being an international channel, Eurosport's performance differs significantly between countries. The figures below show the channel's share of overall viewing in some countries.
^"Jaarrapport 2003"(PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 2004. Archived from the original(PDF) on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
^"Jaarrapport 2004"(PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 2005. Archived from the original(PDF) on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
^"Jaarrapport 2005"(PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 2006. Archived from the original(PDF) on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
^"Jaarrapport 2006"(PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 11 January 2007. Archived from the original(PDF) on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
^"Jaarrapport 2007"(PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 11 January 2008. Archived from the original(PDF) on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
^"Jaarrapport 2008"(PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 19 January 2009. Archived from the original(PDF) on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
^"Jaarrapport 2009"(PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 19 January 2010. Archived from the original(PDF) on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
^"Jaarrapport 2010"(PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 18 January 2011. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
^"Jaarrapport 2011"(PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 18 January 2012. Archived from the original(PDF) on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
^"Jaarrapport 2012"(PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 7 January 2013. Archived from the original(PDF) on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
^"Jaarrapport 2013"(PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 20 January 2014. Archived from the original(PDF) on 14 January 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
^"Jaarrapport 2014"(PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 6 August 2016. Archived from the original(PDF) on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
^"Jaarrapport 2015"(PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 6 August 2016. Archived from the original(PDF) on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
^"Jaarrapport 2016"(PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 7 January 2017. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
^"Jaarrapport 2017"(PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 17 January 2018. Archived from the original(PDF) on 28 April 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
^"Jaarrapport 2018"(PDF). SKO Jaarrapporten (in Dutch). Stichting Kijkonderzoek. 7 January 2019. Archived from the original(PDF) on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
