Promotion of sports is one of the social activities in which Polsat Plus Group is very much involved. Sports occupy a special place in the operations of Plus network (sponsoring) and of TV Polsat (sports coverage).
Corporate Social Responsibility Report for 2020
Promotion of sports
Promotion of sports is one of the social activities in which Cyfrowy Polsat is very much involved. Sports occupy a special place in the operations of Plus network (sponsoring) and of TV Polsat (sports coverage). One of the goals of this involvement is to promote sports, volleyball in particular but other disciplines as well, while promoting physical activity, in the broad sense of the term, among the population as a value in itself and as one of the most important elements of a healthy lifestyle and good functioning of the body.
That is why in the times of the national quarantine we have become involved in helping people keep fit and we proposed short sets of physical exercise that Polsat News viewers should be able to do at home.
Good practice
New 2020
Workouts during the pandemics
The coronavirus pandemics and the restrictions that were introduced as well as the safety concerns require that people limit the time they spend outdoors to a bare minimum. That is why Polsat News has decided to encourage everyone to practice physical exercise at home by presenting simple sets of exercise to help people stay healthy. Piotr Galus, a personal trainer who has been connected with Polsat for years, has become the face of ”Trening w czasach pandemii” (“Workouts in times of pandemics”) show. The sportsman encouraged viewers to practice spontaneous physical activity at home, turn their balconies into training places and get some fresh air, even if only this way.
A vast majority of Poles associates the Plus brand with volleyball and the success that it achieved. During the past 20 years or so all of Poland’s national teams, both men’s and women’s (senior, junior, cadet teams), won a total of 78 medals at various tournaments, including 32 gold, 24 silver and 22 bronze medals. Plus, as a sponsor, participated in the organization of major volleyball tournaments in Poland: four FIVB World League Finals, women’s and men’s European Championship tournaments and men’s World Championship.
Good practice
Continuation
Development and promotion of Polish volleyball
Polsat Plus Group’s involvement in the development and promotion of Polish volleyball is not only restricted to sponsoring , which has been carried out executed by Plus network for the past 23 years, but It also includes support from TV Polsat which has been broadcasting all major volleyball matches – from Polish league matches, through European cups to national team’s matches. It also includes support from TV Polsat which has been broadcasting all major volleyball matches – from Polish league matches, through European cups to national team’s matches. Thanks to the exposure that it has in TV, volleyball has made a major quality improvement in Poland, with new courts and training facilities being constructed, new sponsors attracted to this sport, the numbers of spectators growing and world volleyball stars coming to play in the Polish volleyball league.
Building a positive image of volleyball in Poland and making this discipline a new Polish national sport, with matches attended by whole families, is a great success. Volleyball is seen as a safe sport, associated with great fun and entertainment, on the one hand, and with international success, on the other. A vast majority of Poles associate the Plus brand with volleyball and the successes of our teams, with Plus and volleyball being virtually a synonym, which is of great value for the whole Polsat Plus Group.
Seeing the very positive results of the long-standing cooperation, Plus is satisfied and proud to support volleyball in the years to come. By virtue of an agreement between TV Polsat and the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) signed in 2018, TV Polsat will enjoy the rights to show the coverage of major international volleyball events for 7 years. Up until the end of the 2024 season the TV Polsat’s sports channels will show 1500 top level international matches, including coverage of such events as Volleyball Nations League and the Challenger Cup.
Sports is one of the areas that are most extensively covered by Polsat Plus Group. With viewers in mind we have been consistently betting on football (soccer) at its best, as played by the national team. We have extensive experience in bringing to Polish fans the national teams’ matches from major international events – the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan, the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, UEFA Euro 2008 played in Austria and Switzerland, and UEFA Euro 2016 played in France, while also being experienced in providing media services and support (including own OB trucks, on-site studios and hundreds of supporting personnel). Polsat Plus Group has successfully carried out a unique and comprehensive UEFA Euro 2016 project. For the first time in history the coverage of the matches on the free-to-air POLSAT channel was combined with dedicated pay TV channels, i.e. Polsat Sport 2 and Polsat Sport 3 which operated round-the-clock. Also the most recent U-21 UEFA Euro 2017 tournament enjoyed high interest among viewers
Starting from the 2018/2019 season, Polsat Plus Group once again holds the rights to the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League (for three consecutive years). Match coverage is available to Cyfrowy Polsat DTH platform subscribers, customers of Plus and Netia networks as well as users of IPLA. The prestigious tournaments will be broadcast via the newly created Polsat Sport Premium 1 and Polsat Sport Premium 2 channels as well as via four premium PPV TV services. Thanks to this, for the first time in the history of television all Champions League matches will be showed live, without commercials and in Super HD quality
Our Eleven Sports channels provide a possibility of watching live the best European football leagues as well as all Formula 1® races.
Our channels also regularly show basketball, rugby, Polish and international boxing, mixed martial arts (including KSW, FEN, Babilon MMA, Armia Fight Night), biathlon, speed skating, short track, figure skating and tennis (for years we have been broadcasting the matches from the most prestigious tournament of the world – the Grand Slam Wimbledon tournament).
Broadcasting via free-to-air channels and on scrambled channels
Acquisition of the broadcasting rights as well as production of major sports events at world class level mean expenditures reaching hundreds of millions of euros. Thus financing of such efforts only from the money obtained from sponsors or commercials is not possible. For that reason – similarly as in practically all countries in the EU and North America – part of the broadcasts are shown on paid (scrambled) channels. Ease of purchase of such services, affordable pricing as well as superb quality of the presented materials result in such services enjoying increasing understanding and popularity among our clients.
At the same time we try to make sure that individual events of top importance are available for the most extensive groups of viewers. The events which we presented in our free-to-air channels (Super Polsat and Polsat) in 2020 included:
- Polsat Boxing Night Cieślak vs Mabika
- UEFA Super Cup match between Bayern Munich and Sevilla FC
- DTM race with Robert Kubica participating.
Broadcasting of major sports events also means popularization of numerous sports. TV Polsat and our sports and news channels support the activities which popularize physical education by promoting them in the media and in our TV channels. Both, the news programs and the programs dealing with sports inform of mass sports events while encouraging viewers to participate in them. By presenting sports stars, who also willingly join such initiatives, we promote active leisure and tourism. We also promote mass running or cross-country skiing events as well as football and tennis
While promoting sports and healthy lifestyle, we engage in the support for domestic tourism and spending leisure time with the family. An important role is played by the social-and-educational actions which we carry out together with our business partners during summer and winter vacations. The issue of safety and of spending one’s leisure time with a family – while practicing sports always with a smile – is particularly dear to us. In 2020, while caring for the health of our viewers and customers and also of our employees, due to the coronavirus pandemics we temporarily suspended some of the well-known good practices (i.e. the Fun Day with Nickelodeon and the Sunny Station). Both of these events have so far had the form of large-scale events which involved direct contacts between people.
