Zug, Switzerland, 24 June 2005 – With a year to go to the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ in Germany, Infront Sports & Media has reached a series of agreements with European broadcasters, as Europe's television markets hurry to sign up for an action-packed calendar of FIFA football.
 
Sport TV Portugal S.A. has purchased an important package of FIFA broadcast rights, including all 64 matches of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™, as well as the exclusive rights to the Official Preview Series of the 2006 FIFA World Cup™, which is being produced by Infront Sports & Media in association with FIFA (16 x 26-minute programmes).
 
In addition, Sport TV has acquired the right to broadcast the FIFA Official Film collection, which consists of all the official films of the FIFA World Cup from 1954-2002.
 
Sport TV has also bought rights to the FIFA World Youth Championship 2005 (Under –20) currently taking place in the Netherlands until 2 July. This is the 13th edition of this event, one of the most important international events in the FIFA calendar, with 24 participating teams and 52 matches. The event is a great talent showcase – over the years, hundreds of former players have gone on to participate in the FIFA World Cup™. All rights acquired by Sport TV are for the territory of Portugal.
 
Sport TV S.A. is a commercial television organisation, which controls a digital platform in Portugal. The company is not new to the FIFA World Cup ™ – it was an Infront partner for the 2002 event. Portugal is a strong football market and given that the Portuguese national team is likely to qualify, there has been strong competition for the rights. Sport TV was the successful bidder.
 
Another company renewing its partnership with Infront is Slovakian broadcaster Slovenská Televízia (STV), who acquired rights to the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™, the FIFA Confederations Cup 2005 and the Official Preview Series and FIFA Official Film Collection, across the territory of Slovakia.
 
The FIFA Confederations Cup 2005 involves a tremendous line-up of national teams - Japan, Tunisia, Mexico, Argentina, Australia, Greece, Brazil and Germany. Infront is delivering record television distribution for this event, with 175 countries taking coverage. This represents a 60% increase in distribution since Infront took over responsibility for worldwide television sales in 2001.
 
Another recent signatory is TV & Radio Broadcasting of Georgia, which has purchased exclusive broadcast rights to all matches of the 2006 FIFA World Cup™, the FIFA Confederations Cup 2005, the Official FIFA Preview Series and the 2005 and 2006 FIFA World Player Galas. This relationship is also a continuance from 2002 and covers all television and radio rights in Georgia in the Georgian language. The company is a state broadcaster and the deal will ensure maximum exposure for FIFA's events. 
 
Oliver Seibert, an Executive Director of Infront, said: "These three agreements are all with existing partners and all include a substantial inventory of programming. It shows very clearly that FIFA's events are increasing in popularity and impact all the time. We are confident that there will be new records to report once the final line-up of broadcast partners is known".
 
With still a year to go to the 2006 FIFA World Cup™, Infront's sales team is well on the way to completing its job by finalising distribution for the event taking place in Germany. Of the six regions, three - South America, Central/North America and Africa are 100% sold. Sales in Europe are now more than 75% complete and Asia is 67% complete. In Oceania there are contracts in 75% of territories. Overall, world sales have reached 85% of the potential total. This is good news for FIFA sponsors, who already know the broadcast partners in the key advertising markets. This means plenty of time for planning and activating their World Cup sponsorship activities and working closely with broadcasters on airtime sponsorship and advertising opportunities. 
 
For further information, please contact:
John Kristick
Infront Sports & Media AG
Tel. +41-41-723 15 15
Fax. +41-41-723-1516
info@infrontsports.com