CSI Sports (Est. `97), the provider of televised fighting content, has signed a carriage deal for its new 24/7 HD Network Fight Sports with pay-TV operator, Telia, becoming Scandinavia’s first network to support the entire genre through exclusive events and original programming.
The channel launched on Telia in Sweden and on Sonera in Finland later this month.
The launch on Scandinavia’s leading pay-TV operator continues the rapid global expansion of the Fight Sports Network. Since launching in December 2012, CSI Sports has already secured multiple carriage deals with operators across Europe and the Asia-Pacific region that has taken the Fight Sports Network into two dozen countries within two years.
The programming line-up includes live World Title Boxing events (WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO), World Championship Kickboxing, Mixed Martial Arts and multiple Martial Arts tournaments from around the world, with exclusive reality (Fight Quest) and documentary (Xtreme Martial Arts) series produced by Discovery Networks, the Contender series (produced by Mark Burnett), to specialty series, such as Wide World of Fights and KNOCKOUTS! (The series features Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya, among other Champions).
In addition, Telia viewers can enjoy past fights from some of history’s most exciting Championship Boxing events from HBO Championship Boxing and some of the Greatest Classic fights with legendary fighters such as Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Oscar De La Hoya and George Foreman from an exclusive selection of events that have grossed over USD$1B in U.S. pay-per-view (PPV) revenue alone.
Craig Miele, Co-CEO, CSI Sports, said, “We are proud to announce the launch of Fight Sports on Telia and look forward to providing the passionate fan base across Scandinavia with some of the best fights supported by our exclusive programming and original series, all in one destination”
In an official statement from Stefan Borgqvist, Head of TV at Telia, said, “Fight Sports is a channel in high demand and we believe it will make an already popular TV service even more attractive. The channel will be included in the package STOR for both IPTV and Play +. It will also be eligible for the customers who have packages of channels MIX8”.
Richard Miele, Co-CEO, CSI Sports, said, “Our on-going programming investment commitments in the most high profile live events and original programming continues to benefit the subscribers of our existing and new carriage partners, like Telia. We are very pleased to be part of the TELIA group of channels and we look forward to building Fight Sports into a leading sports channel in Scandinavia.”
