Following a competitive pitch, Firefly has been hired to support the consumer and trade launch of a new UK TV channel focused entirely around sports betting news. SportsXchange goes live from its London studios in late July, warming up for the start of the new Premiership season in August and a string of other major sporting events throughout the Autumn. The new free channel will focus on a large number of sports including horseracing and football, and will broadcast live on Sky as well as the UPC cable network in Ireland. It will also be streamed live over the web at
www.sportsxchange.tv. The presenter line-up has yet to be confirmed.
Robin Bosworth, SportsXchange chief operating officer, says: "One in three people in the UK and Ireland bet on sports events either regularly or occasionally. SportsXchange is a new, totally unique channel aiming to give these people the best possible betting information and advice in a fast-moving and entertaining format. In addition to our regular presenters, we aim to have opinions and insights from a host of guests from the media and sports worlds. Firefly really understands the new media and digital entertainment space and the team showed a passion for sport, so was a natural choice to execute the launch and follow-on campaign."
The start-up TV channel has commercial partnerships with leading gaming organisations including Totesport, Betfair and Get Minted. Investors comprise several private equity sources and Chello Media, part of the $9 billion Liberty Global cable and satellite TV empire.