Eurosport has extended its deal with the European Broadcasting Union and Amaury Sport Organisation to cover the Tour de France until 2023.
The channel will be the exclusive broadcaster in 38 countries, with the first 75 minutes of action also exclusive in many of the remaining European markets.
The fully exclusive markets are Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Sweden, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
The new agreement extends Eurosport’s association with the Tour de France into a 32nd year, with the event having first been shown on the channel in 1991.
Rights to two of cycling’s five monuments – Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège – plus additional UCI World Tour events, including additional exclusivities, are also part of the overall rights package.
Peter Hutton, Eurosport CEO, said: “We proudly claim to be the home of cycling and this new deal is further proof of that statement. We now have every minute of the Tour de France until 2023, meaning all the Grand Tours, the five Monuments and over 30 UCI World Tour events will be on Eurosport – over 200 days and 2,500 hours of live cycling coverage each year.”
“The Tour de France remains the sport’s biggest event and we are delighted that the average viewing figures for this year’s Tour have increased, even when you consider we’ve delivered over 20 hours more live coverage compared to 2016.
“We remain committed to looking at ways to improve the production of the sport, using more access to data to give a clearer explanation of the stories of each day.”
