Fans in the UK will be able to watch the Birmingham and London events live on the BBC, while all other meetings in the series will be shown live by British Eurosport

British Eurosport has secured the rights to show 12 of the 14 meetings in the IAAF Diamond League series live for fans in the UK, while the BBC has announced live coverage of the two British meetings as well as highlights packages for the 12 international events.

The BBC has televised the series live on either its standard channels or the ‘red button’ in recent years but British Eurosport’s new five-year deal will see the broadcaster show all the series action, excluding the two British events, while the BBC has a separate deal for live coverage of the UK meetings taking place in Birmingham on June 7 and in London on July 24-25 which runs through to 2020.

The BBC’s deal to show highlights of the 12 international events runs until 2017.

Both British Eurosport and the BBC acquired the Diamond League rights in a deal with The Great Run Company, which specialises in the development, organisation and rights management of mass participation and televised sporting events including the Morrisons Great Run Series.

The Diamond League series again kicks off with the Doha meeting in May and runs through to September when the two finals in Zurich and Brussels brings things to a close. The full 2015 Diamond League calendar can be found below.

“The Diamond League is a great global series and we are thrilled to bring it to British Eurosport viewers,” said managing director David Kerr.

“Our recent athletics broadcasts have delivered fantastic audiences, which demonstrates that the profile and popularity of athletics in the UK continues to grow on the back of the achievements of athletes like Jessica Ennis-Hill, Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford at the London Olympics, as well as the emergence of future stars like Katarina Johnson-Thompson.

“Our live Diamond League coverage will allow fans in the UK to follow the best of our domestic talent as well as global superstars like Usain Bolt and David Rudisha in the sport s premier annual competition.”

BBC director of sport Barbara Slater said: “We’re delighted with this new deal which is our biggest commitment in terms of coverage of the IAAF Diamond League on network television.

“There is a very healthy appetite amongst our audiences for top flight athletics and this new deal will see all twelve international events brought to the widest possible audience on BBC One and BBC Two, with a comprehensive highlights programme.

“The deal further strengthens the BBC s long term commitment to athletics as we follow the current and exciting generation of stars through the events of the year, to the World Championships in August and beyond to the Olympics Games in Rio next year and the World Championships in London in 2017.”

IAAF Diamond League series in 2015

Doha, QAT – May 15
Shanghai, CHN – May 17
Eugene, USA – May 30
Rome, ITA – June 4
Birmingham, GBR – June 7
Oslo, NOR – June 11
New York, USA – June 13
Paris, FRA – July 4
Lausanne, SUI – July 9
Monaco, MON – July 17
London, GBR – July 24-25
Stockholm, SWE – July 30
Zurich, SUI – September 3
Brussels, BEL – September 11

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