ORF Sport

What is ORF Sport?

ORF Sport is the sport output of the Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), Austria's public broadcaster. It runs through the channel ORF SPORT +, sport programming on the general channels ORF 1 and ORF 2, and the website sport.orf.at, whose footer on 26 September 2026 carried the ORF's statutory notice, “Bekanntgabe laut ORF-G”.^[1]

The broadcaster's statute is the Bundesgesetz über den Österreichischen Rundfunk (ORF-Gesetz, ORF-G), BGBl. Nr. 379/1984. The text read here is the German consolidated version that the RIS serves for 26 September 2026, whose header lists amendments up to BGBl. I Nr. 62/2026.^[2] Section 4b, headed “Besonderer Auftrag für ein Sport-Spartenprogramm” and last amended by BGBl. I Nr. 112/2023, opens in subsection (1): “Der Österreichische Rundfunk hat ein Fernseh-Spartenprogramm zu veranstalten, das der insbesondere aktuellen Berichterstattung über Sportarten und Sportbewerbe – einschließlich der Ausstrahlung von Übertragungen von Sportbewerben – dient, denen üblicherweise in der österreichischen Medienberichterstattung kein breiter Raum zukommt.”^[3] That is, the ORF must run a television channel for current reporting on sports and competitions that Austrian media do not usually give broad space, including live coverage. The subsection goes on to list the programme's further objectives. Subsection (2) provides that the programme is to be distributed by satellite as far as that is economically sustainable and, where it is not, “jedenfalls online bereitzustellen”, at least made available online.^[3] Subsection (4) provides that competitions given broad space in Austrian media coverage, “Premium-Sportbewerb”, “dürfen im Sport-Spartenprogramm nicht gezeigt werden”; its list includes the top men's professional football league, the alpine and Nordic skiing World Cups and World Championships, the Olympic Games, subject to an exception, and Formula 1.^[3]

The ORF's chronicle records that under the ORF-Gesetz passed by the Nationalrat in 2001 the ORF was converted into a “Stiftung öffentlichen Rechts”, a public-law foundation.^[4]

What does ORF Sport cover?

The ORF describes ORF SPORT + in these words: “Der Sportspartensender ORF SPORT + bietet seit seinem Start 2011 eine mediale Plattform für Spitzen- und Breitensport sowie sogenannte Randsportarten aus Österreich.” It adds that the channel reports on disciplines that are usually less in the media spotlight.^[5] That is the broadcaster's own description of its channel.

On 26 September 2026 the navigation of sport.orf.at listed football, Formula 1, basketball, American football, cycling, equestrian sport, ice hockey, tennis, luge, triathlon and canoeing, and its top items concerned Austria's opening match in the UEFA Nations League.^[1]

Football rights. The Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga announced on 30 June 2025 that from the 2026–27 season the ORF shows four live top-division matches a season co-exclusively, two each with first and second choice, together with “Highlight- und Kurzberichterstattungsrechte an allen 195 Spielen”.^[6] The league's announcement does not state an end date for the ORF's contract.

How large is ORF Sport's audience?

Television audiences in Austria are measured by AGTT Teletest, and the ORF's own media research department publishes the market shares. Its page for 2025 states: “Im Jahr 2025 erreichte die ORF Gruppe beim österreichischen TV-Publikum ab 12 Jahren einen durchschnittlichen Marktanteil von 34,6 %.” It gives ORF 1 10.8 per cent and ORF 2 20.8 per cent. It publishes no separate share for ORF SPORT + on that page.^[7] Those are annual averages for 2025.

Web audiences are measured by the Österreichische Webanalyse (ÖWA). The ORF's media research department reports, from ÖWA data for the first quarter of 2026, 5.560 million unique users for the ORF.at network, a reach of 76.7 per cent, and 5.362 million for orf.at, 74.0 per cent.^[8] Those are the ORF's own publications of the currency data, and they do not separate sport.orf.at from the network.

Since when has ORF Sport existed?

The ORF's chronicle dates Austrian television to 1955. Under 1 August 1955 it records: “Erste TV-Versuche zwischen Wien, Graz und Linz.” It records that regular programming on six days a week began on 1 January 1957, and it states: “Die Ski-WM in Gastein 1958 war die erste große Bewährungsprobe der Sportberichterstattung im Fernsehen.” That is, the 1958 World Ski Championships at Gastein were the first major test of sports reporting on television.^[4]

It dates the sport channel to 26 October 2011: “Mit ORF III Kultur und Information sowie mit ORF SPORT + starten zwei 24-Stunden-Spartensender des ORF.”^[4] The channel page gives the same year.^[5] Those dates are the broadcaster's own account.

The legal form dates from 2001, when, as the chronicle records, the ORF-Gesetz passed by the Nationalrat converted the ORF into a public-law foundation; the chronicle dates that entry 5 July 2001.^[4] The statute was promulgated as BGBl. Nr. 379/1984.^[2]

Why does ORF Sport matter in Austria's sport?

ORF SPORT + is a channel the law requires: § 4b(1) of the ORF-Gesetz obliges the ORF to run it.^[3] In the top football division the ORF holds the free-to-air package from 2026–27, alongside Sky's pay-television rights to all 195 matches.^[6] In 2025 the ORF group had 34.6 per cent of television viewing among viewers aged 12 and over, by its own publication of Teletest data.^[7]

A monitoring body has published on the broadcaster's governance. The Media Pluralism Monitor's Austria 2026 page states: “ORF has statutory editorial safeguards, and Constitutional Court rulings and subsequent amendments to the ORF Act (2025–2026) reformed appointment procedures for oversight bodies to reduce the risk of government influence. The consequences remain uncertain due to the persistent influence of the political parties that form the government.”^[9] That is the monitor's characterisation. The statute's header lists amending acts of 2025 and 2026, the latest BGBl. I Nr. 62/2026.^[2]