PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Biathlon has had a secure place at SVT in recent years.
But now the popular sport is leaving the television channel during the Olympics.
Which causes popular television expert Björn Ferry to react strongly.
It will be giddy for TV viewers during the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina. Discovery and Max will continue to show the championship, but have also invited both SVT and TV4 to share the rights so that as many Swedes as possible can see the sports festival in two years.
Now leaving SVT
Both of the latter TV channels will share the hockey broadcasts, but the big talking point has been that cross-country skiing is returning to SVT again. However, the TV channel releases the biathlon to TV4.
The article continues below.
A decision that can arouse strong reactions from TV viewers who have nevertheless become accustomed to watching the sport on SVT’s channels.
– It is clear that we would have liked to broadcast the biathlon as well. But it is in the nature of things that when you share, someone will get what the other wants. We value that sport very highly. There will be no shortage of biathlon on SVT, says the TV channel’s sports manager Max Bursell to Expressen and explains the decision.
– It would have been logical for biathlon to be with us because we have the World Cup. And you can see it in the way that we don’t have that many cross-country skis in our regular range so this is an opportunity to show perhaps the finest cross-country championship. But with all factors recorded, I’m happy with how the distribution turned out.
Ferry’s reaction
Biathlon has been very strongly associated with SVT in recent years, thanks in large part to “Vinterstudion” and its wholehearted coverage of the sport. One who receives the news with great sadness is the acclaimed TV expert Bjorn Ferry.
– I don’t know what to say. It’s more: “Well, now it turned out like this”. I was more surprised because it was not known that the four were in the game until this summer. It is clear that it feels bad, says Ferry to the evening newspaper.
– But it is the managers who decide and negotiate. You don’t know how they choose to prioritize.
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The former biathlete, who won Olympic gold during his career, still coldly expects that he will work with the Olympics on SVT. Although the TV channel will not show his sport live.
– I have worked at SVT when there have been Olympics before, then we still had a lot of coverage and I assume it will be like that now too. I assume that I will work with the Olympics in some way, he says in the interview.
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