LAUSANNE — There’s an old adage in television — you’ve got to give the people what they want. University sports fans received that today as the International University Sports Federation (FISU) and the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) announced a three-year agreement. The pact allows for the ABU Sports Network to distribute broadcast content from FISU sports events throughout the Asia-Pacific region to its members.
As the global governing body of international university sports, FISU has an impressive collection of international sports events coming up, notably the Summer and Winter Universiades. The largest university multi-sport competitions in the world, the Winter Universiade will take place in Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation from 2-12 March, while the summer edition will take place in Naples, Italy from 3-14 July 2019. This fall, two emerging FISU sport properties – the University World Cups in 3×3 Basketball and Football, will also be available to ABU members.
The ABU Sports Network is a platform to share and exchange audio video content from major sports events. The platform also offers an enhanced content distribution system where ABU members can freely access daily highlights and will soon offer live streaming.
The ABU Secretary General, Dr. Javad Mottaghi, welcomed the latest move by FISU to sign the partnership agreement for yet another three years. He said, “The 280-member strong Union, comprised mostly of broadcasters, is able to reach over 3 billion audiences across Asia and the Pacific.” Dr. Mottaghi also expressed his appreciation to FISU saying, “this latest move by FISU reflects the trust and confidence that the governing body of international university sports has bestowed on the ABU.”
FISU Secretary General – CEO Eric Saintrond noted the need for strong broadcast partnerships to expand the role and reach of university sport worldwide. “At FISU, our focus is putting on world-class sports events for student-athletes. University sport has a special spirit, one where elite athletes compete with camaraderie, amongst one another. This, combined with the toplevel of the athletes, makes for compelling television which should find a strong audience in the Asian market.”
ABU Director of Sport Yanjiang Cai remarked on the significance of the agreement. “This signing with FISU allows the Asia-Pacific region to benefit from even richer, more diverse and vibrant television programming,” he said. “We envision ABU Sports being the hub for all international university sports broadcast content within the region. The addition of these compelling events further demonstrates our commitment to capitalising on our multinetwork and multi-platform expansion strategy,” Mr. Cai added. “I am sure this is the beginning of a success story in what will be a longstanding relationship with FISU.”
The International University Sports Federation – FISU
Founded in 1949, FISU stands for Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire (International University Sports Federation). FISU was formed within university institutions in order to promote sports values and sports practice in harmony with the university spirit. Promoting sports values means encouraging friendship, fraternity, fair-play, perseverance, integrity and cooperation amongst students, who one day may have responsibilities and key positions in politics, economy, culture and industry.
With FISU’s motto being ‘Today’s Stars, Tomorrow’s Leaders’, all FISU events include educational and cultural aspects, bringing together sport and academia from all over the world to celebrate with a spirit of friendship and sportsmanship. FISU cooperates in developing its events and programmes with all major international sports and educational organisations. As major outcomes of those collaborations, in 2015, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) proclaimed the International Day of University Sport to be celebrated annually on 20 September – an event that has seen huge growth in its first few years.
FISU is composed of 174 Member Associations (National University Sports Federations). The FISU General Assembly elects the members of the FISU Executive Committee, its board of directors. A total of 14 permanent committees advise the Executive Committee in their specialised areas. For the daily administration of FISU, the FISU Executive Committee relies on the Secretary General, who is assisted by the FISU staff. FISU’s headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland.
For more information please contact FISU Media at media@fisu.net or Press Officer Tina Sharma at t.sharma@fisu.net
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