Company will produce club-specific shows and weekly women’s football programme
Talksport has launched a 24/7 FAST channel and smart TV app.
The company is moving to TV after the success of its YouTube offering, which attracts 150 million monthly views. The channel will be available as an app on FireTV, Apple TV, Google TV, and a FAST channel on LG Channels plus from early February, Samsung TV Plus. More partners are expected to be announced in due course.
Talksport is launching the channel with a slate of original programming, including club-specific shows such as Inside Devils, Inside Gooners and Inside Chelsea, a weekly women’s football programme - The Kick Back, ahead of the Women’s Euros this summer, and Final Whistle, which will report the final scores each weekend as they come in. These shows will be available through the channel, as well as YouTube and radio.
Monzo is a launch partner, sponsoring the Live Transfer Deadline Day show with Jim White on Monday 3rd February. Existing shows such as Breakfast with Jeff Stelling, Ally McCoist, Alan Brazil and Shebahn Aherne; Jim White and Simon Jordan; and Drive with Andy Goldstein and Darren Bent, will also be shown on the channel.
Scott Taunton, EVP, president of broadcasting at News UK, said: “Talksport is one of the biggest sports media brands in the world, with audiences hungry for its brilliant presenters and pundits, breaking news and always-contentious opinion. Making Talksport available through this raft of smart TV partnerships, broadcasting from our state-of-the-art audio-visual studios, underlines our commitment to innovate and drive a new chapter of growth as Talksport celebrates its 25th birthday.”
Liam Fisher, head of Talksport, said, “Talksport is already a huge hit on YouTube - attracting over 150m views of its brilliantly visualised content every month. These partnerships with the leading smart TV operators in the UK open the door to new audiences and ensure fans can experience the very best in sports content like never before. Our peerless line-up - including Alan Brazil, Ally McCoist, Jeff Stelling, Simon Jordan, Jim White, Lianne Sanderson, Andy Goldstein, Darren Bent and Shebahn Aherne - will be available on the big screen in high definition. You have been warned!”
Russell Pedrick, director of digital at News Broadcasting, said, “This year marks Talksport’s 25th anniversary, and this announcement marks a new chapter in sports entertainment. Creating a complementary smart TV experience alongside radio, online, social channels and YouTube expands the network’s distribution and provides advertisers like Monzo, with a raft of innovative partnership opportunities. Through smart TV, our commercial partners can engage with our passionate audience in more dynamic and innovative ways than ever before.”
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