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Slovak national broadcaster launches new sports channel

The channel, called Joj Šport Plus, will compete head on with the Warner Bros Discovery-owned Eurosport.

The channel, called Joj Šport Plus, will compete head on with the Warner Bros Discovery-owned Eurosport.

The Slovakia men's national hockey team competes against the Czech Republic men's national hockey team in 2014. (Photo by Ivan Aivanova)
The Slovakia men’s national hockey team competes against the Czech Republic men’s national hockey team in 2014. (Photo by Ivan Aivanova)

The national commercial broadcaster in Slovakia has launched a new online sports channel that will offer TV viewers in the country access to more live sports.

The channel, called Joj Šport Plus, will carry some “spillover” live sports airing at the same time as events broadcast on the company’s traditional sports-focused network.

“On Joj Šport Plus, we will broadcast matches and events that deserve to be on television, but due to a scheduling conflict with another top event planned for a longer period of time, that we can’t include on Joj Šport,” Roman Neuschl, the head of Joj Šport TV, said in a statement translated by The Desk.

“We will bring those events to viewers through a separate stream, which will always be available for live events on the Joj Play platform,” Neuschl continued, referring to the streaming service operated by Joj.

Nikoleta Nagyová, the product manager for Joj Play, said sports fans who register for an account won’t have to pay anything right away to watch live events on Joj Šport Plus.

The main Joj Šport television channel was launched in late 2021 and was designed to bring more Slovakia-based sports to television viewers there. The brand serves as an alternative to Eurosport, the pan-European sports network owned by American media company Warner Bros Discovery (WBD).

While Eurosport is available in Slovakia, the network’s two main channels tend to offer sports of interest to a broad audience in Europe. Joj Šport, on the other hand, focuses on live sports of interest to Slovakian sports fans that might otherwise not be available on television. Sports programming offered on Joj Šport since its debut include top-fly basketball, competitive skiing, badminton, motorcycle racing and pond hockey.

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About the Author:

Matthew Keys

Matthew Keys is an award-winning journalist with more than 10 years of experience covering the business of television and radio broadcasting, streaming services and the overall media industry. In addition to his work as publisher of The Desk, Matthew contributes regularly to StreamTV Insider and KnowTechie, and has worked for several well-known news organizations, including Thomson Reuters, McNaughton Newspapers, Grasswire, Comstock's magazine, KTXL-TV and KGO-TV. Matthew is a member of IRE, a trade organization for investigative reporters and editors, and is based in Northern California.

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