Tigo Sports is a Latin American pay television network operated by the telecommunications company Tigo, dedicated exclusively to sports. The brand was launched in February 2014 by Tigo Paraguay, and was later extanded to other Latin American countries.
On April 30, 2015, Tigo Sports used the black ribbon in mourning, due to the death of sports journalist Gustavo Köhn, who died at the Camargo Cancer Center in São Paulo, Brazil, due to colon cancer that he suffered in the last years.[1]
Tigo Sports began its broadcasts in Bolivia on November 27, 2014, with the La Paz derby that was played at the Hernando Siles Stadium, between The Strongest and Bolívar, which was the event chosen for the launch of the first Bolivian channel specialized in sports. Minutes before the start of the match, company executives officially announced the beginning of the programming of Tigo Sports, a channel that broadcasts its signal through the cable operator Tigo Star, visible on channel 800 of the standard channel, 900 in HD and on 8 in satellite service.
Launched in 1994 as a Pay TV Channel and Digital sports content provider, this was the first sports media launched in all operations in Millicom. Originally known as Teledeportes Paraguay, a sports producing company that evolved into broadcast of events and programs 24/7. Its headquarters named "Tigo Sports Media House" is based in Fernando de la Mora and is among the best equipped studios in the region with 2 studios of 400 sq mts. Tigo Sports owns its own fleet of OB Vans and has over 150 employees.
Unicanal was a 24-hour Pay TV cable purchased in October 2012 by the merger with Cablevision Paraguay (property of Grupo Clarin Argentina). It began operations on 15 December 1989, when it started broadcasting at 5:45 AM. During its time as propriety of Tigo Paraguay, genres included in the grid included News, Entertainment, Realities, Health, Magazines, alternating between local content and Argentinian content provided by El Trece Argentina (also part of Grupo Clarin) In February 2014, local soccer broadcast was translated from Unicanal to Tigo's new Pay TV cable, Tigo Sports, dedicated to sports 24/7. In February 2015, Tigo sold the operations of Unicanal to JBB Group, a company owner of Radio Disney, specialized in media, entertainment, distribution and in real estate.
Exclusive Channels of Tigo Colombia include Tigo Sports. It was first launched on 7 April 2014. The Colombian Second Sports Channel with sports broadcasting rights including: Categoria Primera C (seven games per match day), Copa Colombia (three matches per round), Premier League (up to six games per match day), Greek Super League (four games per match day).
26 November: The commercial launch in the capital La Paz of Tigo Sports will help to propel more local sports onto Bolivia's national stage as well as transform televised international fixtures for sports enthusiasts across the country.
Tigo Star's Leandro Lagos said: "Bolivia deserves its own sports channel. And with its signal in High-Definition it will be most closely aligned to whomever wishes to enjoy the most important sporting events nationally and worldwide."