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Viaplay Xtra is a British
free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the FTA Receiver, appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring ...
sports
television channel A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...
operated and owned by Viaplay Group.


History

Viaplay Xtra launched as FreeSports on 31 August 2017, with the aim to provide free-to-air sports coverage and become a top three dedicated sports channel in the UK. /sup> It is available on all major platforms, available in 18 million UK homes. It is only available on
Freeview HD Freeview is the United Kingdom's sole digital terrestrial television platform. It is operated by Digital UK Ltd and DTV Services Ltd, a joint venture between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky. It was launched on 30 October 2002, taki ...
, not standard Freeview. /sup> The channel holds a partnership with rights holders
IMG img or IMG is an abbreviation for image. img or IMG may also refer to: * IMG (company), global sports and media business headquartered in New York City but with its main offices in Cleveland, originally known as the "International Management Group ...
,
MP & Silva MP & Silva Limited was an international sports marketing and media rights firm based in London. Founded in 2004 by Italian businessmen Riccardo Silva and Andrea Radrizzani, the company was primarily involved in the acquisition and international ...
,
Lagardère Group Lagardère S.A. () is an international group with operations in over 40 countries. It is headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The group was created in 1992 as Matra, Hachette & Lagardère. Headed by Arnaud Lagardère, it is focuse ...
, Pitch International and Infront Sports & Media. /sup> It is a sister channel of
Premier Sports Viaplay Sports and Premier Sports are a group of pay television sports channels owned by Viaplay Group. Viaplay Sports holds exclusive live UK and Republic of Ireland TV rights to La Liga, Scottish League Cup, Elite Ice Hockey League, NHL an ...
. /sup> FreeSports released a statement in February 2018 revealing that it would go high-definition (HD) on
Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...
in summer 2018, however, the channel only remains available in standard definition. In May 2019, a move to HD on Sky UK was set for 15 July 2019. The channel launched on
Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...
channel 553 on 21 July 2018. A temporary duplicate launched on channel 130 on Virgin Media at midnight on 22 July 2018, a slot previously vacated by Alibi +1 prior to the
UKTV UKTV Media Limited, simply known as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through ...
channels' removals, until the network was restored on 11 August 2018. On 25 September 2018, the channel launched in high definition on Virgin Media. The HD version replaced the SD version on Freesat and Sky on 15 July 2019. In 2019, FreeSports was made available via
STV Player STV Player is a video on demand service owned by STV Group and available free-of-charge across the UK, online, on mobile and on all major TV platforms, including Sky Glass, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, Freeview Play and Virgin Me ...
, the streaming service of Scottish broadcaster STV. Viewers could watch a live-stream of the channel, as well as view a selection of programmes on demand. FreeSports was removed from STV Player in 2021. On 8 January 2020, FreeSports was removed from
Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...
in
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
.
La Liga TV La Liga TV is an English pay television channel that broadcasts live La Liga football games and content in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is the United Kingdom’s first channel dedicated to showing content from an overseas football league. A ...
launched on 13 January 2020 on the same channel throughout the UK and Ireland. On 30 June 2020, FreeSports was removed from Freesat due to fee disagreements. On 20 July 2021,
eir Sport 2 Eir Sport 2 (stylised as eir Sport 2, formerly Setanta Sports 1) was an Irish pay television channel owned by Setanta Sports Channel Ireland.CBS Justice CBS Justice (formerly CBS Action) was a television channel specialising in action film, drama and murder-mysteries programs. It launched in the UK and Ireland on 16 November 2009 and later expanded to Africa in 2019. It closed on all platforms i ...
and
Forces TV The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) provides radio and television programmes for His Majesty's Armed Forces, and their dependents worldwide. Editorial control is independent of the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces themsel ...
, FreeSports was removed from the
Freeview Freeview may refer to: * Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia * Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), ...
platform on 30 June 2022. On 21 July 2022,
Viaplay Group Viaplay Group AB, formerly known as Nordic Entertainment Group AB (NENT Group), is a Swedish media and entertainment company headquartered in Stockholm. The company operates the namesake video streaming services Viaplay and Viafree, advertising ...
announced that it has acquired Premier Sports and Freesports and stated its intention to rebrand the channels as Viaplay Sports network. and the new owners renamed Freesports to Viaplay Xtra on 1 November 2022.


Coverage

FreeSports aims to be majority live, with over 1000 events a year, for an average of 10 hours per day. Numerous sports are broadcast, including
association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
,
combat sport A combat sport, or fighting sport, is a competitive contact sport that usually involves one-on-one combat. In many combat sports, a contestant wins by scoring more points than the opponent, submitting the opponent with a hold, disabling the oppon ...
s,
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
,
tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
,
rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
,
rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
,
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
,
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
, and
snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...
.


Football

The first match shown live was a 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifier between the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
on 1 September 2017. The channel also initially showed live coverage of the
Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...
(two games a week) &
Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...
(one game a week) as well as numerous club TV shows, including
Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...
TV and
AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seaso ...
TV. The channel also shows weekly highlights from the
National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
. In 2019, FreeSports began airing
Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...
and
Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...
fixtures until 2021 alongside Premier Sports following the decline of online streaming service
Eleven Sports Eleven Sports is a multinational sports and entertainment media group. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, it is owned by Andrea Radrizzani's sports and media investment platform Aser Ventures. Eleven Sports' business model initially centred a ...
, prior to securing rights to
Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
(alongside Premier Sports (2019 only) and
Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
) until 2022. They also sealed exclusive rights to the
2018–19 Coupe de France The 2018–19 Coupe de France was the 102nd season of the main football cup competition of France. The competition was organised by the French Football Federation (FFF) and was open to all clubs in French football, as well as clubs from the over ...
from the quarter-final stage. In May, FreeSports secured rights for the
2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 ...
, the 2019 Toulon Tournament, the 2019 Copa América (encore and highlights only) and the
2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 15th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was primarily hosted in th ...
. In February 2020, FreeSports also added rights to the Japanese
J-league The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the system. Founded in 1992, it is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football. Contested by 18 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the J ...
after securing rights in the previous year to the
Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...
. In May, FreeSports added two European football rights: the Polish
Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 cl ...
(until 2020–21) and
Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...
. FreeSports later confirmed it would broadcast the Primeira Liga in July along with the 2020 Taça de Portugal Final between the Portuguese O Clássico rivals Benfica and
Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
on 1 August. From 27 November, the channel started showing matches from the 2020–21 Indian Super League season. In December, FreeSports began to broadcast Brazil's Série A; kicking off with
Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football ...
vs. Santos and
Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...
vs.
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
on 13 December. They also added
Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...
, with Premier Sports, and
CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...
football that month. In 2022, the channel showed matches from that year's AFC Women's Asian Cup and
EMF EURO The EMF EURO is the main small-sided football competition for men's national teams, governed by the European Minifootball Federation. The tournament is six-a-side. Results Statistics Performance by nations Medal count Participation detail ...
(
minifootball Minifootball is a ''small-sided'' variation of football. It is mainly played in 5-a-side format, with additional types of 6-a-side, 7-a-side, 8-a-side, 9-a-side and indoor soccer, all played on astro turf, or futsal played indoors on a hard cou ...
).


Ice hockey

The
National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
fronts the channel's ice hockey coverage with three games a week.
Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce B ...
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
Henrik Sedin Henrik Lars Sedin (born 26 September 1980) is a Swedish ice hockey executive and former professional ice hockey centre who played his entire 17-season National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Vancouver Canucks from 2000 to 2018. He additional ...
made the announcement on the channel's
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account. However, the first live coverage of Ice Hockey was between
Nottingham Panthers The Nottingham Panthers are a British professional ice hockey club based in Nottingham, England. They are members of the Elite Ice Hockey League. Their main team sponsor is the Nottingham Building Society. The Nottingham Panthers have won four ...
and
Mountfield HK Mountfield Hokejový Klub is a professional men's ice hockey club based in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic. It is a member of the Czech Extraliga. The club was formed after the original HC Mountfield was unable to resolve a sponsorship dispute. ...
in the 2017–18 Champions Hockey League. As well as NHL and CHL, the
IIHF The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 m ...
and SHL will also be shown live, while the
Spengler Cup The Spengler Cup is an annual invitational ice hockey tournament held in Davos, Switzerland. First held in 1923, the Spengler Cup is often cited as the oldest invitational ice hockey tournament in the world. The event is hosted by the Swiss tea ...
semi-finals and final will also be screened. The
Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annua ...
are expected to be shown on FreeSports including live coverage of games featuring Great Britain. In March 2018, it was announced that FreeSports would be televising the
KHL The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs b ...
Playoffs throughout March & April and later announced it had a 2-year extension to televise live KHL from the 2018–2019 season onwards. On 20 July 2018 FreeSports and the
EIHL The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League or, for sponsorship reasons, the Viaplay Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey ...
struck a deal that will see a live game shown every two weeks which will also feature highlights, starting with the forthcoming 2018/19 campaign.


Motorsport

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
features on the channel, which broadcast the 2018 Daytona 500: the first time the event was shown on free to air television in the UK. FreeSports also shows the
Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...
and
Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...
showing live as well as highlights of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Also live on the channel are Australian V8 Supercars, Swedish and Polish Speedway. There are also highlights of
Monster Jam Monster Jam is a live motorsport event tour operated by Feld Entertainment. The series began in 1992, and is sanctioned under the umbrella of the United States Hot Rod Association. Events are primarily held in North America, with some additional ...
, Arenacross,
Formula D Formula Drift (also known as Formula D) is a United States-based motorsport drifting series. Formula Drift, Inc. was co-founded by Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage in 2003 as a sister company to Slipstream Global Marketing, the same partnership that int ...
, Brisca Stock Car Racing and the
FIA World Rallycross Championship The FIA World Rallycross Championship (official abbreviation is World RX) is a rallycross series organised by the FIA in conjunction with series promoter Rallycross Promoter GmbH (founded by Red Bull and KW25). From the inaugural season in 2014 ...
. In 2020, the race also aired on sister channel
Premier Sports Viaplay Sports and Premier Sports are a group of pay television sports channels owned by Viaplay Group. Viaplay Sports holds exclusive live UK and Republic of Ireland TV rights to La Liga, Scottish League Cup, Elite Ice Hockey League, NHL an ...
.


Pool

In February 2018, the
International Professional Pool Association International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * International (Kevin Michael album), ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * International (New Order album), ' ...
(IPA), FreeSports Champions Cup ( Blackball) was televised live on FreeSports over the course of three days and was won by Ben Davies. Following this, the IPA FreeSports Pool Cup began on 12 February 2018, with the aim of finding Britain's best Blackball pool player. In 2019, the IPA world championship was broadcast. It started on Thursday to Saturday 7–9 February, with the final being contested between Marc Farnsworth of England and Tom Cousins from Wales.


Professional wrestling

5 Star Wrestling 5 Star Wrestling (stylised as 5★ Wrestling) was a professional wrestling promotion based in Scotland. The company operated from 2015-2018 and promoted events throughout Great Britain and Ireland. They also produced a television series which was ...
was broadcast live on FreeSports from January to March 2018, featuring an array of British and American wrestling talent. During the first twelve shows in the UK wide arena tour, many high-profile wrestlers were on the roster including
Rob Van Dam Robert Alexander Szatkowski (born December 18, 1970) is an American professional wrestler and actor better known by his ring name Rob Van Dam (frequently abbreviated to RVD). He is best known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling ...
,
Rey Mysterio Óscar Gutiérrez (born December 11, 1974), better known by his ring name Rey Mysterio, is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand. Widely regarded as one of the greatest profes ...
,
Zack Gibson Jack Rea (born 8 August 1990) is an English professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Rip Fowler. He is also known for his work as Zack Gibson on the UK independent circuit. H ...
, John Morrison, Jack Hager,
Adam Maxted Adam Maxted (born 27 March 1992) is a Northern Irish professional wrestler and former contestant on ITV2 show '' Love Island''. Having been a contestant on Series two of ''Love Island'', having entered at day 11, Maxted paired up with Katie Sa ...
, Carlito,
Chris Masters Christopher Todd Mordetzky (born January 8, 1983) is an American professional wrestler, currently signed to National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) under the ring name Chris Adonis as a member of Strictly Business. He is a former two-time National Ch ...
and Eddie Ryan. On 5 April 2019, it was announced that FreeSports and
Major League Wrestling Major League Wrestling (MLW), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in New Rochelle, New York. The promotion was founded in 2002 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by former WWE writer Court Bauer. The promotion markets its product as ...
(MLW) reached an agreement to broadcast
MLW Fusion ''MLW Fusion'' is a professional wrestling television program produced by Major League Wrestling (MLW) that originally premiered on April 20, 2018 on beIN Sports USA. On November 10, 2022, the series began streaming on Pro Wrestling TV. A thir ...
on the network. On 2 October 2020,
Premier Sports Viaplay Sports and Premier Sports are a group of pay television sports channels owned by Viaplay Group. Viaplay Sports holds exclusive live UK and Republic of Ireland TV rights to La Liga, Scottish League Cup, Elite Ice Hockey League, NHL an ...
announced a new partnership with
Impact Wrestling Impact Wrestling (stylized as ''IMPACT! Wrestling''), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment. Founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in 2002, the promot ...
that will see FreeSports broadcast episodes of Impact's weekly programme, '' Impact!'', every Wednesday. The partnership will also see Premier Sports broadcast future Impact
pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...
s and special events, starting with Victory Road on delay on 6 October.


Rugby league

The channel features delayed coverage of
Toronto Wolfpack The Toronto Wolfpack are a Canadian professional rugby league club based in Toronto, Ontario, who compete in the North American Rugby League. The club originally competed in the British rugby league system but withdrew in the 2020 Super Leagu ...
games in
The Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...
and, in conjunction with RugbyAM, live games from the
National Conference League The National Conference League (known as the Kingstone Press National Conference League for sponsorship reasons) is the top English amateur rugby league competition in the Rugby Football League pyramid, and as such is the leading amateur rugby l ...
. Last year the channel had covered the
National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...
. However the rights passed to
Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
for the 2018 season. The channel had also screened some games from the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.


Rugby Union

FreeSports showed Autumn internationals including France & Italy matches and is currently showing live BUCS Rugby matches. On 30 April 2018, Premier Sports announced they have signed a landmark partnership to broadcast every game from the Guinness PRO14 live in high-definition across the UK for at least the next three years, with no less than 21 games (one per round) shown live free-to-air on FreeSports.


Snooker

Snooker is now being shown on FreeSports, beginning with the 2020 Championship League and then following up with continued televised coverage of the 2021 Championship League. The channel is now the primary television broadcaster in the UK and Ireland for the Championship League, where previously it had only been available via betting websites.


Cricket

European Cricket Series
Bangladesh Premier League The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) ( bn, বাংলাদেশ প্রিমিয়ার লীগ) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league consisting of seven franchises. The BPL is one of the three professional cricket leagues in ...

Pakistan Super League The Pakistan Super League (PSL) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league contested during February and March of every year by six teams representing six cities of Pakistan. The league was founded on 9 September 2015 with five teams by the Paki ...

Mzansi Super League The Mzansi Super League (MSL) was a Twenty20 cricket (T20) franchise league held in South Africa. The competition was established in 2018 by Cricket South Africa (CSA) as a replacement for the failed T20 Global League, but only two editions wer ...

2020–21 Nepal Tri-Nation Series
Abu Dhabi T10 League
Lanka Premier League The Lanka Premier League (abbreviated as LPL; , ) is a professional cricket league in Sri Lanka in Twenty20 format contested every year by teams representing Sri Lankan cities from 2020. The league was founded by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) in 201 ...
(from December 2021)
Broadcast all tests, ODI’s and T20 fixtures hosted by Afghanistan or Zimbabwe from 2021 to 2024.


Other Sports

Twenty-five events from the
ATP World Tour 250 series The ATP 250 tournaments (previously known as the ''ATP World Tour 250'' tournaments, ''ATP International Series'', and ''ATP World Series'') are the lowest tier of annual men's tennis tournaments on the main ATP Tour, after the four Grand Slam (te ...
,
FEI Nations Cup The FEI Nations Cup, called Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup since 2013 because of sponsorship reasons, is the most prestigious Show Jumping series for national teams in the world. It is organized by the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI). His ...
(
show jumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrianism, equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, Show hunter, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including th ...
),
Liga Española de Baloncesto The Liga Española de Baloncesto, also known as LEB Oro, is the second basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system after the Liga ACB. It is run by the FEB. The Liga Española de Baloncesto is divided into two categories (the oth ...
(Spanish
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
), EuroLeague (European basketball),
Drone Champions League Drone most commonly refers to: * Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg * Unmanned aerial vehicle * Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft * Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to: ...
,
World Weightlifting Championships The World Weightlifting Championships is an event organised by International Weightlifting Federation (IWF). The first competition, held in March 1891, was won by Edward Lawrence Levy of England. Athletes compete in a total of 20 weight categorie ...
, Crankworx World Tour. Live coverage of major events in the French horse-racing calendar began with the meeting at Chantilly on 10 September 2017. FreeSports also shows
boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...
roughly once a month on a Friday featuring bouts promoted by Neilson Boxing.


Previous coverage


Football

In 2018, FreeSports held selected rights for the
Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil ( en, Brazil Cup) is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de ...
, while they also showed both Copa Libertadores Finals between the Argentine Superclásico rivals
Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...
and River Plate; in simulcast with
BT Sport BT Sport is a group of broadcasting of sports events, pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, Warner Bros. Dis ...
. A year later, the
Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...
final coverage is moved to
BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...
.


Combat sport

* MMA: Amateur,
International Mixed Martial Arts Federation The International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) was founded on 29 February 2012 as the international governing body for amateur Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Registered as a non-profit organisation under Swedish law, IMMAF serves as a democr ...
highlights.
Professional,
Professional Fighters League The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is an American mixed martial arts league founded by venture capitalist Donn Davis in 2017 and launched in 2018, following the acquisition and restructuring of the former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) promot ...
(PFL); formerly the World Series of Fighting (WSOF).
Cage Warriors Cage Warriors (CW) is an Irish owned mixed martial arts promotion, based in London, England. The promotion was established in 2001 and staged its first MMA event in London in July, 2002. Many MMA stars have made their names under the Cage Warrio ...
; joined the channel's portfolio on 7 September 2017, KSW MMA, showing both
Mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...
and
Kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...
. * Kickboxing: Glory * Boxing: In 2022 Neilson Boxing claimed the exclusive rights to boxing on Box Nation & FreeSports.


Basketball

The
British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...
(BBL) signed a deal with FreeSports in January 2018 to broadcast a number of games during the remainder of the 2017–2018 season. The first game broadcast on the channel was the BBL Trophy Final between
Worcester Wolves The Worcester Wolves are a basketball club in Worcester, England, Worcester, England. The team plays in the National Basketball League (England), NBL Division 2, the third tier of British basketball. The club was formed in 2000, and from 2006 u ...
v
Cheshire Phoenix The Cheshire Phoenix are a professional basketball team based in Ellesmere Port, England. Founded in 1984, they are members of the British Basketball League and play their home games at the Cheshire Oaks Arena. From 1993 until 2015 the team was ...
. Other live Spanish basketball on the channel is ACB Basketball from the Copa Del Rey series.


Cricket

The channel broadcast live coverage of the 2017
Bangladesh Premier League The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) ( bn, বাংলাদেশ প্রিমিয়ার লীগ) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league consisting of seven franchises. The BPL is one of the three professional cricket leagues in ...
tournament and live coverage of 2020–21 Nepal Tri-Nation Series


References

{{Reflist, 30em


External links


FreeSports websiteInternational Professional Pool Players Association (IPA) — Professional Body for Blackball pool who run a well publicised tour for both amateurs and professionals recognised as the pinnacle for the sport of pool.
2017 establishments in the United Kingdom Sports television channels in the United Kingdom Sports television in the United Kingdom Television channels and stations established in 2017