The contract to produce live TV coverage of the next World Athletics Championships, the largest sporting event to be hosted in London since the 2012 Olympics, is understood to have been awarded to Sunset + Vine.
UK Athletics, the local organising committee for the next championships which will be held at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford in 2017, is understood to have appointed Sunset + Vine following a competitive pitch.
The independent producer which holds the BT Sport contract is to partner with FilmNova to produce event. FilmNova produces events such as the Great North Run.
“We put a strong team together who produced the athletics events at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and also joined forces with FilmNova who are specialists in road races,” said Jeff Foulser, chairman of Sunset + Vine. “It’s also an all-UK-based production, which I’m sure made a difference to the decision that UK Athletics made. We are thrilled to have been selected to cover such a prestigious event.”
Last week, Sebastian Coe, the double Olympic champion who led the organising committee of London’s 2012 Games, was elected as president of the International Association of Athletic Federations, the governing body for athletics that runs the World Championships.
Sunset + Vine, which produced Channel 4’s successful London 2012 Paralympics coverage, has been on something of a contract winning roll recently.
Earlier this month, BT Sport extended its £35m-plus annual contract to produce its live coverage of Premier League football and rugby union matches with the company until 2018.
In May, Channel 5 awarded the multi-million-pound contract to produce its weekly primetime Football League highlights show to Sunset+Vine in a three-year deal.
