Until Sunday, 600,000 thrill seekers are expected on the banks of the Lez, in Montpellier (Hérault), for the 26th edition of Fise (the International Festival of Extreme Sports). But for those who are far away (or not fanatics of jubilant crowds), they can also tune in to channel 21 of TNT to follow the performances of the riders: the event is broadcast, for the first time, live , on the L’Equipe channel.
This is the first time that the Fise has had the honors of a free channel, easily accessible and endowed with wide visibility. Until then, only Eurosport, RCM Sports and MCS Extreme had broadcast the prowess of the competitors. For the Fise, now in the clear, a new era is dawning. “We worked, until today, with pay channels, and we wanted to bring more notoriety to the event,” says Hervé André-Benoît, the creator of Fise. But not only. A broadcast on TNT, in front of “millions of viewers”, is also a great showcase for “our disciplines”, confides the boss of the event. “It can, perhaps, arouse desires among young people, who do not yet know extreme sports. »
It is a “popular and premium” event
Such visibility is also the guarantee, for Fise, of attracting new sponsors, essential to the survival of the event, which has suffered greatly from Covid-19. And it is also one more step towards the credibility of urban sports. They are no longer separate disciplines. From now on, BMX, rollerblading and skateboarding will benefit from an opulent showcase: from this Thursday evening, until Sunday, the L’Equipe channel will offer 15 hours of live streaming from Montpellier on its antenna. And the entire event will also be visible on the channel’s live channels, accessible free of charge on its website.
“We said ‘Yes!’ in a minute, entrust to 20 minutes Jérôme Saporito, director of the TV division of The Team. Because the Fise is a popular and premium event. Popular, because it’s an unmissable event that attracts a considerable crowd, and premium because it brings together the best athletes in their categories. »
This is not the first time that the L’Equipe channel has innovated. Already, in 2016, it was a pioneer in the broadcasting of e-sport competitions in France. And now, she is focusing on urban sports. “We are a chain in motion, which tries to capture the spirit of the times, which lives with the times, which watches what is happening… which sees phenomena emerge, and which tries to make them accessible to as many people as possible “, notes Jérôme Saporito. If the L’Equipe channel has the exclusive rights to broadcast Fise in France, around the world, around fifty other broadcasters will take over the Montpellier signal. Several tens of millions of television viewers should connect to the banks of the Lez, until Sunday, to follow the performances of the Fise riders.