POSTED: Thursday November 12th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FIFA and CCTV announce landmark broadcasting deal

Agreement is now to 2014, including the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cupsâ„¢

FIFA today (12 November 2009)     announced a landmark deal with China Central Television (CCTV) covering     the broadcasting of different FIFA tournaments on CCTV from now to 2014,     including the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World     Cups™.

CCTV made a strong commitment     to show not only matches from the FIFA World Cups™ but also from other     FIFA events and tournaments such as the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ and the     different FIFA World Cups for young     players.

The agreement is the first of     its kind in the history of both Chinese sport and FIFA. Extending     broadcast coverage of football in the world’s most populated country also     represents an important step in developing and strengthening the game     worldwide.

“FIFA is delighted to have     reached such a significant agreement with CCTV,” FIFA Secretary General     Jérôme Valcke said after the contract was announced today in Beijing. “We believe     that this is the start of a long-term cooperation that will help to     further strengthen football in China PR and make it even more     popular.”

“Since its broadcast of the first FIFA World Cup™ match in 1978,     CCTV has enjoyed over thirty years of constructive cooperation with     FIFA,”     said CCTV’s Deputy Editor-in-Chief     Li Ting. “The     partnership between the     two organisations will further improve the quality of CCTV’s long-term strategy in covering     football.”

The agreement between FIFA     and CCTV ensures that the world’s most popular sport will be broadcast     free-to-air throughout China PR. This will greatly     benefit promotion of the game of football in a country where it is enjoyed     by hundreds of millions of fans.

FIFA has already organised a     number of competitions in China PR including the Olympic Football     Tournaments in 2008 and the FIFA Women’s World Cups™ in 1991 and     2007.

CCTV is China PR’s     national television station, with its 38 channels attracting more than a     billion viewers throughout the country. CCTV was previously the media rights holder for     the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups™, as well as the FIFA Women’s World Cup     2007™ and the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009.

Further     information from:

FIFA Media     Department

Tel.: +41-43/222 7272, fax: +41-43/222     7373, e-mail: media@fifa.org    

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Keywords · FIFA · CCTV · soccer

Name: Nicolas Maingot
Organization: FIFA
Email:
Phone: +41-43/222 7272
URL: http://www.fifa.com/index.html

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