Broadcaster partners with Premier Sports and FreeSports for on-demand offering
STV is to offer an ‘always on’ sports channel on STV Player after partnering with pay TV sports broadcaster Premier Sports and free-to-air sister channel FreeSports.
By streaming FreeSports, STV becomes the first broadcaster to operate a VoD service providing a free-to-air, 24-hour sports feed.
The channel will air 10 live football matches a week from Major League Soccer (MLS), Liga NOS and Serie A. Other sports covered include international rugby, ice hockey, motorsports, boxing and cycling.
STV has also signed a three-year deal to become the exclusive advertising sales agent for Premier Sports’ subscription services Premier Sports 1 and Premier Sports 2 across their broadcast and digital platforms.
STV commercial director Peter Reilly said the wide range of original and archive content would strengthen STV player as Scotland’s content destination of choice.
Regarding STV’s deal to become ad sales agents, he added: “STV is Scotland’s pre-eminent advertising platform and we look forward to bringing our expertise and proven track record of working with advertisers to drive growth for Premier Sport.”
This week, STV’s half year results showed a 5% fall in total revenue to £54.9m, alongside a 10% rise in operating profit to £11m.