Novasports

What is Novasports?

Novasports is the sport brand of the Greek pay-television operator Nova, published at novasports.gr. The site's footer names the company as “NOVA TELECOMMUNICATIONS & MEDIA ΜΟΝΟΠΡΟΣΩΠΗ ΑΝΩΝΥΜΗ ΕΤΑΙΡΕΙΑ (ΜΕΛΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΟΜΙΛΟΥ ΕΤΑΙΡΕΙΩΝ "UNITED GROUP")”, gives its address on Λεωφόρος Αθηνών 106, Athens, and carries the line “ΜΕΤΟΧΟΣ: Crystal Almond S.à.r.l.”, naming the shareholder, with “© NOVA 2026”.^[1] The government's register of online press, the Μητρώο Ηλεκτρονικού Τύπου, lists www.novasports.gr under NOVA TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA ΜΟΝΟΠΡΟΣΩΠΗ Α Ε, at Λεωφόρος Αθηνών 106, and names the same company as owner.^[8]

The Euromedia Ownership Monitor's 2025 report on Greece, published in December 2025, describes Nova's group, United Group, as a private-equity-controlled, cross-border group, controlled by BC Partners funds as majority holder, with a minority stake reported for Dragan Šolak. It records that the group's vehicle United Media Sàrl acquired a 50 per cent equity stake in the free-to-air broadcaster Alpha TV, which the report states the EU approved in 2025.^[2] Those are the monitor's findings as of its publication date, and no later change of control was retrieved.

What does Novasports cover?

On 24 September 2026 the novasports.gr home page led with the Stoiximan Super League, including items on Olympiacos's scoring record in its first five matches and a coming derby with Panathinaikos. It carried EuroLeague and Greek League basketball, the national football team's UEFA Nations League match against Serbia, and tennis, volleyball and Mediterranean Games items.^[1]

The site's navigation and headlines name competitions including the Stoiximan Super League, the EuroLeague, the Stoiximan Basket League, the Eurocup, the NBA, the Premier League, the Bundesliga, La Liga and the UEFA Nations League.^[1] The basketball league's own body, ΕΣΑΚΕ, brands its championship Stoiximan GBL 2026-2027.^[9] The page names those competitions; it does not state the term of any rights agreement, and no contract with its dates was retrieved.

Novasports channels also reach subscribers of another platform: the MagentaTV home page lists Novasports beside its own Magenta Sport channels.^[3]

How large is Novasports's audience?

Television audiences in Greece are published under the name Nielsen Audience Measurement. Its weekly channel-share table for 31 August to 13 September 2026 lists ten channels, among them ΕΡΤ 1, ΕΡΤ 2 ΣΠΟΡ, ANT1, ALPHA, STAR, ΣΚΑΙ, OPEN and MEGA, and assigns the remainder to “τους υπόλοιπους τηλεοπτικούς σταθμούς, την παρακολούθηση βίντεο, DVD κλπ.”; it has no row for Novasports.^[4] No audience figure for Novasports channels from that currency could be retrieved.

No subscriber figure from Nova and no audited traffic figure for novasports.gr could be retrieved.

The Euromedia Ownership Monitor's report links Nova's group to a free-to-air channel through its recorded 50 per cent stake in Alpha TV.^[2] Nielsen's table gives ALPHA a 12.0 per cent share for 31 August to 6 September 2026 and 12.3 per cent for 7 to 13 September 2026; those are figures for that channel, not for Novasports.^[4]

Since when has Novasports existed?

No launch date for the Novasports brand could be retrieved from Nova's or United Group's own pages. United Group's home page, retrieved on 24 September 2026, describes the group as a multi-play telecoms and media provider in South East Europe with headquarters in the Netherlands, and gives no date for its acquisition of Nova.^[5]

The ownership position given above is dated by its sources: the site's footer as retrieved on 24 September 2026, and the Euromedia Ownership Monitor's report of December 2025.^[1][2]

Why does Novasports matter in Greece's sport?

It is one of the pay platforms whose sites advertise domestic top-division football and EuroLeague basketball; MagentaTV is another.^[1][3] Its site uses the sponsor name of the football league, the Stoiximan Super League.^[1]

Monitoring bodies have published on the ownership structure of Greek media. The Media Pluralism Monitor 2026 states: “Media ownership remains highly concentrated across sectors, with continued dominance of major actors in audiovisual, newspapers, and digital markets.”^[6] Reporters Without Borders, in its 2026 index entry for Greece, states: “Similarly, a few entrepreneurs run the vast majority of media outlets, while being involved in other highly regulated business sectors.”^[7] It adds: “The impact of the new legislation aimed at increasing transparency of media ownership and funding remains to be seen.”^[7] Those are the bodies' characterisations of the market, not findings about Nova. RSF also states: “The financial crisis of the last decade, combined with declining readership and advertising budgets, has called into question the long-term survival of many media outlets.”^[7]

The Euromedia Ownership Monitor names the National Council for Radio and Television as the competent authority, and records that Law 5253/2025 provides for a publicly accessible register of media ownership and beneficial ownership.^[2] On that regulator, the Media Pluralism Monitor 2026 states: “The independence and effectiveness of the National Council for Radio and Television (NCRTV/ESR) are undermined by politically contested appointment procedures, structural underfunding, limited resources, and constraints on its regulatory capacity.”^[6] The monitor scores Greece at 67 per cent risk for market plurality.^[6]