Thomas KIRSCH

　　Thomas KIRSCH

　　Project manager for IP NETWORK; chief editor of the annual book International Key Facts Television, published by IP NETWORK and RTL Group; professor for media research and media economics at Rheinische Fachhochschule Köln

　　Education Background: Ph. D, the Universidad Nacional at Heredia/Costa Rica

　　MA, Economics and Political Science, the Freie Univestität Berlin

　　Research Interests：the future development of TV markets

　　the globalization and localization of TV programmes worldwide.

　　Sports Globalization and Cultural Diversity in TV

　　Thomas KIRSCH

　　TV broadcasters have always been aware that sport presents its viewers excellent entertainment provoked by the elements eagerness and emotions. Already in the first days of private television, sport was seen as a crucial weapon in the battle for channel supremacy. The fight for broadcasting rights began in Great Britain between public BBC and the new private channel ITV, in the USA between the private networks ABC, NBC and CBS.

　　And with the beginning of pay TV, pay TV operators such as BskyB in the UK and Canal+ in France used again the pulling power of sports on viewers.

　　Since 1993, TV Keyfacts has annually shown the reappearance of sport events in the top 20 programmes of most European countries and thus confirms that audiences worldwide are enormously attracted by sport events.

　　The article shows that since the beginning of private TV in Europe, there has been an enormous increase in the number of live sport broadcasting hours as well as an enormous increase of sports channels. In 2005 114 new TV channels were launched, 21 of these were sports channel and most of them pay TV channels. Over time, television also developed a special philosophy about sports coverage: entertainment value. As part of the entertainment attraction, not just the sports themselves were important, but it also became increasingly important to focus on individual personalities. Television increased the degree of recognition and popularity of sportsmen and women and a symbiotic relationship developed between sport and television.

　　Some countries are more enthusiastic about sports on television than others. Over the past few years, broadcasts of sporting events have regularly achieved substantial viewing figures in Turkey, Italy, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. More than half of the Top 20 programmes in these countries have always been sport broadcasts, and most of them football.

　　However, not every country is infected with football mania. The article shows that in some nations, football does not seem to interest anyone at all or enjoys less popularity than in others. In India cricket is the most popular sport. The Canadians love to play and watch hockey. In the United States, it is almost a rule-of-thumb: nearly every year the Super Bowl achieves the best ratings of all programmes.

　　These differences result from varying national/regional tastes, existential orientation and interest. Sport in television seems to be linked to how strongly sports, or certain types of sport, are anchored in each country. However, the success of national heroes also plays an important role, when only a secondary one, like that of Adam Malysz (Ski jumping) in Poland.