German subscription TV network Premiere is launching a new sports portal this year: Spox will bundle information, interactivity and live sport; it will include community elements and video. The site will be ad supported but some premium access will be offered.. (Via Variety.)
Premiere, which already operates separate sport and soccer channels across its German and Austrian operation, is a 40.1 percent holder in the new venture with an option for majority; other backers include the Media Ventures investment group as well as Manuel Lopez, ex-Sport1 sales and marketing head, and Ruediger Schulze, former ProSiebenSat.1 SevenOne Intermedia CFO. Lopez and Schulze will co-manage the outfit. Lopez previously was with Hamburg1 TV and Yahoo Germany; Schulze’s background is in financial operations including KPMG as well as media. (Release).
There is competition, however. European sports network Eurosport and Yahoo last month combined their might to launch a German-language sports portal.