Victory Challenge secure broadcast rights

Most Baltic countries now signed up for America's Cup television

The sailing by Victory Challenge will be broadcast by Viasat in eight countries.
Viasat Broadcasting has acquired the exclusive television broadcasting rights to the America's Cup 2007 in the company's principal geographical markets - Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Hungary .

Viewers in these eight countries will be able to follow Victory Challenge and the America 's Cup for the three remaining years of this America's Cup cycle.

Viasat will be broadcasting coverage from the Acts and have live broadcasting from the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America’s Cup matches, as well as providing high quality news, profiles, analysis and updates from the world's premier sailing competition.

Victory Challenge, following its success in Auckland in 2002, are delighted to have acquired the broadcasting rights to the overall event, which will enable viewers to follow the regattas in Valencia, Malmö and Sicily this year, says Magnus Dahlborn, head of Viasat Sport Sweden

"Viasat provided more than 100 hours of live broadcasting from Auckland, so we are very happy to have reached an agreement for Valencia 2007", says Kristian Hysén, International Vice President of TWI. TWI is the McCormack Group broadcasting company that represents AC Management, which own the broadcasting rights to the Cup.

With the America’s Cup in Europe for the first time, the Swedish Victory Challenge returning as a competitor and the Louis Vuitton Acts 6 & 7 in Malmö-Skåne this summer, Northern Europe is more involved in the America’s Cup than ever before. We are very happy that so many people in the region will now be able to closely follow all the action through Viasat broadcasts.

The America 's Cup has been a high profile media event since the very beginning more than 150 years ago, and it has shown continuous growth. Broadcast coverage increased to 211 countries in 2003 from 100 in 2000.

Victory Challenge won 11 matches in Auckland - more than any other Swedish syndicate had done before. The team knocked out the French syndicate in the quarter-finals and finished in fifth place after being defeated by Italian syndicate, Prada, the America 's Cup 2000 finalists, in the battle for a semi-final place.

Victory Challenge has all the required experience, equipment and know-how to mount an even stronger challenge for Valencia 2007 and retains the support of its original backers MTG, owner of Viasat, and Tele2.

Victory Challenge’s yacht Örn (SWE 63) is now on a freighter on its way to Spain , where it is expected to arrive this Friday. It will be met by the sailing team, headed by Magnus Holmberg, the renowned match racing sailor who was one of Victory Challenge’s helmsmen in Auckland.