15.03.04 -- Infront Sports & Media has reached an exclusive agreement with Australian network SBS for the broadcast for the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ in Germany.

Zug, Switzerland, 15 April 2004 – Infront Sports & Media has reached an exclusive agreement with Australian network SBS for the broadcast rights for the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ in Germany.
 
SBS, a free-to-air broadcaster, will ensure that the coverage of the event is complete and live, with all 64 matches broadcast in full. There will also be extensive replays, highlights and support programmes during the month-long competition.
 
Oliver Seibert, Executive Director Television, of Infront, FIFA's television partner, said: "Working with a major free-to-air broadcaster, SBS, will ensure maximum coverage and audiences for the next FIFA World Cup™ in Australia, a country with a great sporting tradition and a growing affection for soccer's greatest event".
 
SBS believes that the experience of the 2002 FIFA World Cup™ in Korea/Japan, which was closer to Australia both in terms of time zone and region, contributed to a new surge of interest in the event. It sees the FIFA World Cup™ as a major part of the Australian sporting psyche.
 
In addition to the 2006 FIFA World Cup™, SBS has also secured rights to a number of other FIFA events including the FIFA World Youth Championship, the FIFA Under-17 World Championship and the FIFA Confederations Cup, all of which are being held in 2005. The rights to both the FIFA World Cup™ and the FIFA events extend beyond Australia to the territories of Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu helping to maximise live exposure of the event.
 
This announcement follows a number of important agreements that have recently been concluded by Infront for the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ as the event draws closer, including with NOS for Holland, EESTI Television for Estonia, the Romanian Television Corporation (TVR), Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation SA (ERT) for Greece, Hong Kong Cable for Hong Kong, PT Surya Citra Televisi (STCV) for Indonesia and Leading Independent Media (LiM) for the territory of Sub Saharan Africa.

 
For further infromation please contact:
 
John Kristick
Infront Sports & Media AG
Tel: +41-41-723 15 15
Fax:  +41-41-723 15 16
E-mail: info@infrontsports.com