The new year may bring more equestrian coverage on British television as Eurosport launches a new live sports channel. Eurosport 2, a rebranding of the rolling sport news service Eurosport news, broadcast on Monday 10 January for the first time.
Although news will still play a big part in the channel’s programming, the core afternoon and early evening slots will be devoted to live events from around the world and magazine-style programmes.
The channel will broadcast some 1,800 hours of sports events every year, including over 450 hours of live coverage. “Certainly we’ll be showing more live sports on Eurosport 2,” says a spokeswoman.
Although Eurosport 2 will not run a dedicated equestrian programme, a second channel allows the network to increase the breadth of its equestrian coverage. “In terms of equestrianism, we have quite a full programme this year,” says a spokeswoman. “We will be showing more events.”
By expanding the network’s opportunities to broadcast live sports, Eurosport 2 should also help prevent equestrian events being scrapped to make room for mainstream sports.
“The launch of Eurosport 2 will provide additional broadcast of Eurosport’s premier TV rights so that viewers have a wider offer on both channels,” says Eurosport Managing Director of Broadcast, Laurent-Eric Le Lay. “Eurosport 2 will transmit live other events, which take place at the same time as those broadcast on Eurosport.”
These programmes are due to be shown:
April 20-24: FEI World Cup Dressage and Show jumping Final, Las Vegas, USA
May 5-8: Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials, Three-Day Event
July 22-24: European Show Jumping Championships, San Patrignano, Italy
27-31: Royal International Horse Show, Hickstead
September 1-4: Burghley International Horse Trials, Three-Day Event
December 16-20: Olympia, London International Horse Show
Eurosport 2 is available on on Sky channel 411, ntl channel 811 and Telewest channel 525.
