Virgin TV has extended its roster of sports channels for all TV customers with the addition of FreeSports.

The sports channel, which aims to broadcast up to 1000 events a year, specialises in airing a mix of domestic and international programming from the world’s most loved sports.

This vast selection includes highlights and live football, cricket, tennis, rugby, athletics and motorsport action as well as basketball, ice hockey and even drone racing.

Some of the top action on offer includes live International football friendlies, Premier League teams’ pre-season friendlies, Guinness PRO14 Rugby, ATP World Tour 250 tennis series, grassroots rugby league, British Basketball League, Global T20 Canada cricket as well as Red Bull Air Races.

All Virgin TV customers will be able to access FreeSports on channel 553 from Saturday 21 July.

It has been a sports-rich summer for Virgin TV customers who have been able to watch some of the biggest events in the highest picture quality available. This included the Champions League Final and Roland Garros in 4K Ultra HD as well as some of the matches at the World Cup in Russia.

Recently Virgin Media gave its customers the opportunity to watch the Wimbledon Championships in Ultra HD. This included the Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s finals through Eurosport and the option to watch all Centre Court Wimbledon matches in Ultra HD and in Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) through the fully integrated BBC iPlayer app on Virgin TV’s V6 box.

Showing these sporting spectacles in 4K UHD has been made possible through Virgin TV’s smallest and smartest set-top box – the V6 – and powered by Virgin Media’s ultrafast broadband, which provides speeds of up to 350Mbps for customers.

David Bouchier, Chief Digital Entertainment Officer at Virgin Media, said: “It has been an incredible summer of sport so far and our customers have had everything they need to experience it from the comfort of their homes. Bringing FreeSports to Virgin TV further boosts our roster of sports channels and our customers can expect more to come.”

Richard Sweeney, CEO at FreeSports, said: “We are delighted that our ever growing dedicated free sports channel is joining the Virgin Media platform. FreeSports boasts a large portfolio of global and domestic free, live sport that we believe will be a huge hit with Virgin Media customers.”

ENDS

FreeSports on Virgin TV

  • Available from Saturday 21 July on channel 553. Standard definition only. Available for all Virgin TV customers on Player packages and above.

Notes to editors

About Virgin Media

Virgin Media offers four multi award-winning services across the UK and Ireland: broadband, TV, mobile phone and landline.

Our dedicated, ultrafast network delivers the fastest widely-available broadband speeds to homes and businesses and we’re expanding this through our Project Lightning programme, which could extend our network to up to 17 million premises.

Our interactive Virgin TV service brings live TV, thousands of hours of on-demand programming and the best apps and games to customers through a set-top box, as well as on-the-go through tablets and smartphones.

Virgin Mobile launched the world’s first virtual mobile network and offers fantastic value and innovative services with 4G connectivity. We are also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the UK and Ireland.

Through Virgin Media Business we support entrepreneurs, businesses and the public sector, delivering the fastest widely available broadband speeds and tailor-made services.

Virgin Media is part of Liberty Global, the world’s largest international TV and broadband company. Liberty Global connects 22 million customers through operations in 11 countries across Europe subscribing to 46 million TV, broadband internet and telephony services. It also serves 7 million mobile subscribers and offers WiFi service through 12 million access points across its footprint.

About FreeSports

FreeSports is a TV channel dedicated to bringing free sport back to every home in the UK. This year they will broadcast over 1000 live events. Their growing sports line-up includes; Football, Rugby League, Rugby Union, British Basketball, British Boxing, Pool, Darts, Tennis, Ice Hockey, Motorsports, MMA, Cricket, Speedway and lots more world class action.

Press contacts

Jamie Clarke, Virgin Media – 0333 000 2984, press@virginmedia.co.uk

Twitter: @VirginMediaCorp

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Journalists can contact the Virgin Media O2 press office on:
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