From Tuesday 2 February, Telenet will add a new channel to their offer. With ‘Play Sports Open’, Telenet customers can watch a selection of matches from various sports competitions, but their own programs and documentaries will also be broadcast.
“With this channel we want to make part of our sports offer accessible to a wider audience,” says Stefaan Kestens, responsible for Play Sports and Play Sports Open. “Genius is too good to miss, as we said in our latest Play Sports campaign: we want to live up to this philosophy for all our television customers.”
Sometimes a match, but not all competition
At Play Sports Open, all Telenet TV customers will find a selection of matches from various Play Sports competitions, including Premier League, Europa League, Eredivisie, ATP and WTA Tennis, Belgian Hockey and Basketball, Cyclocross, Formula 1 and MXGP.
But with Play Sports Open, Telenet mainly wants to target the ‘occasional sports fan’ and his or her family. “Viewers who want to see a match of the Premier League or a Formula 1 race, but who do not necessarily follow the entire competition,” says Dieter Nieuwdorp, marketing manager at Telenet.
Wesley Sonck and Pedro Elias in ‘The container cup’, of which a promise edition is made for Play Sports Open.
Not only will there be extensive analyzes of matches, but also light and fun programs. “We aim to be able to offer about 8 to 10 programs per year,” says Kestens. For example, production house Woestijnvis is working on a promise edition of De container cup, an EC quiz Match of the truth and documentaries about the ins and outs of football clubs RSC Anderlecht and Royal Antwerp.
Talkshow
The new linear channel will be available from 2 February 2021 on channel 11 (the current Telenet info channel) in the basic digital television offering and in YUGO at Telenet. Play Sports Open kicks off that day at 6 p.m. with an opening stalk show, hosted by Bart Raes and sidekicks Rik Verheye and Dennis Xhaët. Together with their guests – Imke Courtois, Kris Wauters, Eric Goens, Carl Dircksens, Paul Herygers and Yanina Wickmayer, among others – they discuss what the Play Sports Open viewer can expect from the new sports channel. Immediately after the talk show, Studio Live follows with the Premier League matches Wolverhampton against Arsenal and Man United against Southampton.
The channel is exclusively available to all Telenet TV customers. The Belgian football league, like the Italian, Spanish and German, remains exclusively reserved for Play Sports subscribers and will not be shown on the open channel.
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