Sunrise, the Swiss telecoms company, has retained its flagship rights to air all games from Swiss ice hockey’s top-tier National League for a further eight years.
The renewed deal, which covers pay-TV and free-to-air rights, will see the National League remain a key feature of Sunrise’s MySports streaming platform through the 2034-35 season.
The FTA element will see MySports continue to partner with broadcasters CH Media (German-speaking Switzerland), Léman Bleu and La Télé (French-speaking Switzerland), and TeleTicino (Ticino) to carry selected regular-season fixtures and one playoff match per round, as well as highlights.
The league said negotiations with future partners for highlight broadcasts are ongoing.
The tender for the 2027-28 to 2034-35 domestic rights cycle was launched last June and, according to the company, prevailed over rival bidders by reiterating its long-standing commitment to Swiss ice hockey, its production expertise, and its broad distribution strategy.
National League chief executive Denis Vaucher said: “With MySports, Sunrise has understood how to create new formats and open up new distribution channels, and it therefore lives up to ice hockey’s high status among the Swiss population. With MySports, Sunrise is our dream partner – today and in the future.”
The long-term rights renewal comes as MySport looks to position itself as the dominant ice hockey broadcaster in the country, providing live games, highlights, documentaries, and in-depth analysis.
Along with the National League, MySports holds rights to several other ice hockey competitions, including North America’s NHL, the German Ice Hockey League, the Swedish Hockey League, the Champions Hockey League pan-European competition, and games involving the Swiss national ice hockey team.
Launched in 2017, it is the only fee-based sports channel in Switzerland and has been integrated across nearly all major TV platforms, including Sunrise TV, Swisscom TV, Salt TV, Quickline TV, and Netplus, as well as streaming services such as Zattoo, Teleboy, and Sky.
Sunrise chief executive André Krause said: “MySports is hockey. And the decision made by the National League is a wonderful vote of confidence for us and great motivation to continue doing everything we can for the sport.
“We bring ice hockey even closer to the fans via TV, app, social media, and partner channels. And in the coming year,s we’re looking forward to continuing to develop MySports content for our subscribers with top presenters, experts, editorial, and production teams.”
Last year, heavyweight sports service DAZN launched its platform on Sunrise TV ahead of the 2024-25 European soccer season, giving customers access to Italy’s Serie A, France’s Ligue 1, and Germany’s Bundesliga, three of Europe’s “Big 5” soccer leagues.
