In Europe, cable giant Fox Sports has been awarded the rights to broadcast the new international baseball flagship tournament in Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, Malta, The Netherlands and Turkey.

NOS, the Dutch free-to-air public broadcaster, has been granted Premier12 broadcast rights in The Netherlands, while Eleven Sports Network has obtained them across Belgium and Poland, as well as Singapore and Malaysia.

WBSC Premier12 broadcast distribution across Asia also includes beIN Sports in Indonesia and the Philippines, LeTV and PPTV in China, Macau Cable, Sky Net in Myanmar, Solar in the Philippines, i-Cable in Hong Kong, and Vietnam Digital Television.

Additionally, Japanese satellite TV network J-Sports has acquired broadcast rights for the WBSC Premier12, adding to the already announced agreements with TV Asahi and the Tokyo Broadcasting System in Japan, and Camerabay.tv has obtained online broadcast rights in Taiwan to complement host broadcaster Videoland's television rights in the nation.

Videoland will be producing 33 of the Premier12’s 38 games within the space of a week, marking the most intense operation in history for Taiwan’s premier sports network.

The first-ever edition of the competition, due to take place from November 8 to 21, features the top 12 baseball teams in the world who will go head-to-head in a round robin and knockout format.

"WBSC is proud to partner with some of the world's premier broadcasters to showcase this new crown jewel event and deliver all the excitement of Premier12 to potentially hundreds of millions of households and mobile users," said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari.

"These partnerships not only highlight the global appeal of this new WBSC flagship baseball product, but also demonstrate baseball's expanding worldwide position in an extremely competitive environment."

Last month, it was announced that SBS has been awarded the exclusive broadcast rights in South Korea for Premier12.

Across the Middle East and North Africa, Dubai-based OSN added the Premier12 to its broadcast portfolio.

In Oceania, global sports network beIN Sports has been awarded Premier12 broadcast rights in Australia, while in the Americas, Canada’s Sportsnet and the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television have been awarded exclusive rights in their respective territories.

Premier12 group matches are set to take place in Chinese Taipei with the semi-finals and finals due to be held at the Tokyo Dome.

World number one ranked Japan are in Group B alongside the United States, Olympic champions South Korea, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Mexico.

Olympic silver medallists Cuba, Taiwan, The Netherlands, Canada, Puerto Rico and Italy make up Group A.

Before the event itself gets underway, Japan are scheduled to play host to South Korea in a special opener for the tournament at the 40,000-seat Sapporo Dome on November 8.

It is hoped the event will help showcase baseball’s global appeal after baseball/softball was put forward by the Tokyo 2020 Additional Events Programme Panel for potential inclusion at the Olympic Games in the Japanese capital, along with karate, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing.


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