22 July, 2022
London: The first event of the PTO Tour will be beamed live around the world this weekend in over 160 territories thanks to a raft of broadcast deals led by an exclusive 3-year partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery.
The inaugural PTO Canadian Open in Edmonton (23-24 July) – anchor by Alex Payne and supported by a commentary team of Belinda Granger, Barrie Shepley and Vicky Holland – will be live on Eurosport 1 with the exclusive agreement covering 50 territories across Europe on its linear channels as well as being streamed via discovery+, the Eurosport App and GCN+*.
New additions to the broadcast line up include: ESPN, who will broadcast the PTO Tour Live in Central and South America, Mexico and the Caribbean after agreeing a 3-year deal and BeIN Sports, who will take live and highlights across MENA, APAC, USA and Canada. Other core partners include: CBC Sports in Canada, Fox Sports in the USA and Australia and Outside TV in the USA, Fuji TV in Japan and Tencent, MIGU and iQiyi in China, Sky Sport in New Zealand, SPOTV across Asia and the recently agreed 2-year deal with DAZN across multiple territories including Japan, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
“The first-ever PTO Tour race is a big moment for the PTO and its athletes, as we look to take the sport to the next level,” said Tim Godfrey, Chief Marketing Officer of the PTO, a new sports body co-owned by the athletes and seeking to grow the sport.
“So, it’s brilliant that we have been able to partner with some of the biggest broadcasters around the world to share all the action. Appetite has grown quickly since the Collins Cup last year, which is a validation of our strategy to give these amazing athletes a global platform to showcase their stories and superhuman exploits.”
The PTO has been working with its media rights advisors, IMG, on the broadcast sales and distribution.
The PTO Tour will also be on its new OTT offering, PTO+, delivered by Endeavor Streaming. The sports broadcasting will be led by FilmNova.
For full listings visit https://protriathletes.org/events/how-to-watch
-ends-
*Europe: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Poland, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vatican State.
APAC: Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand
Indian Sub-continent: India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka.
Collins Cup broadcasters in 2021 included Eurosport across Europe, Fox Sports Australia, Sky Sport New Zealand, Bein Sport, CBS and Fuji TV in Japan.
Press Contacts:
Professional Triathletes Organisation
Anthony Scammell, Communications Director [email protected] / 00 44 (0) 7714 340 525
About the Professional Triathletes Organisation
The PTO is a new body co-owned by the professional athletes, seeking to take the sport to the next level and see it grow and thrive. The inaugural PTO Tour race schedule for 2022 includes: the first-ever PTO Canadian Open (July 23-24); the second edition of $1.5M Ryder Cup-style Collins Cup (August 20), which sees Team Europe take on Team USA and Team International; and the first PTO US Open (September 17-18). Each Open carries a minimum prize money of $1M and will be raced over 100km (2km swim, 80km bike and 18km run). In 2023 and 2024, the PTO Tour plans to expand with the PTO European Open and the PTO Asian Open, alongside their US and Canadian equivalents and the Collins Cup.