04 November 2015

WBSC Premier12 Broadcast Rights Awarded Around The World

TAIPEI CITY -- The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) today announced that broadcast rights have been awarded in territories across the world for the first-ever WBSC Premier12™ global baseball championship, which will be staged from 8-21 November in Japan and Taiwan and will feature the National Teams of the Top 12 countries in the world.

In Europe, cable giant Fox Sports has been awarded the rights to broadcast the new international baseball flagship tournament in Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, Malta, Netherlands and Turkey.

NOS, the Dutch free-to-air public broadcaster, has also been awarded Premier12 broadcast rights in the Netherlands, the No. 5 country in the WBSC Baseball World Rankings, while Eleven Sports Network has obtained broadcast rights across Belgium and Poland, as well as Singapore and Malaysia in Asia.

WBSC Premier12 broadcast distribution across Asia also includes beIN Sports (Indonesia and the Philippines), LeTV and PPTV (China), Macau Cable, Sky Net (Myanmar), Solar (Philippines), i-Cable (Hong Kong) and Vietnam Digital Television (VTC).

Japanese satellite TV network J-Sports has also acquired broadcast rights for the WBSC Premier12, adding to the already announced agreements with TV Asahi and the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) in Japan.

Camerabay.tv has obtained online broadcast rights in Taiwan, which complements host broadcaster Videoland’s television rights in the nation. Videoland will be producing 33 (of the 38) games of the 2015 WBSC Premier12 within the span of a week, marking the most intense operation in history for the premier sports network in Taiwan.

It was already announced that SBS in South Korea has been awarded the exclusive broadcast rights in that nation for Premier12.

Across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Dubai-based OSN added the WBSC Premier12 to its broadcast portfolio.

In Oceania, global sports network beIN Sports has been awarded Premier12 broadcast rights in Australia.

In the Americas, Rogers’ Sportsnet (Canada) and the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT) have been awarded exclusive rights in their respective territories.

“WBSC is proud to partner with some of the world’s premier broadcasters to showcase this new crown jewel event and deliver all the excitement of Premier12 to potentilly hundreds of millions of households and mobile users,” said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari. “These partnerships not only highlight the global appeal of this new WBSC flagship baseball product, but also demonstrate baseball’s expanding worldwide position in an extremely competitive environment.”

All 38 games of the 2015 WBSC Premier12 will be live-streamed and free-to-view on the WBSC YouTube channel for those territories not covered by WBSC’s broadcast partners. Following each game, highlights and video-on-demand will be available  to worldwide audiences via WBSC’s YouTube channel.

The WBSC will award US$ 3.8 million for the 38-game world baseball competition that will bring together the Top 12 nations (the “Premier12”) in the WBSC Baseball World Rankings.

The 2015 Premier12 winner will be awarded US$ 1.0 million, while each participating National Team will be guaranteed at least US$ 150,000 for less than two weeks of competition. The overseeing National Federations will distribute a minimum of 50 per cent of the prize money to the competing athletes.

The 2015 WBSC Premier12 will be the top international baseball event of the year, not only offering the largest purse but also the highest payout of world ranking points.

Earning the right to compete in the WBSC Premier12 are world No. 1 Japan, No. 2 United States, No. 3 Cuba, No. 4 Chinese Taipei, No. 5 Netherlands, No. 6 Dominican Republic, No. 7 Canada, No. 8  South Korea, No. 9 Puerto Rico, No. 10 Venezuela, No. 11 Italy and No. 12 Mexico.

Top-ranked Japan and rival South Korea will meet in the first-ever WBSC Premier12 contest on 8 November at the 40,000-seat Sapporo Dome.  

Among tune-up contests for the WBSC Premier12, South Korea will host Cuba for two games to officially open the new Gocheok Sky Dome, the first domed baseball stadium in the nation, from 4-5 November.