Dazn Milan Atalanta

Early life and education

Milan Kundera was born on 1 April 1929 at Purkyňova 6 (6 Purkyně Street) in Královo Pole, a district of Brno, Czechoslovakia (present-day Czech Republic), to a middle-class family. His father, Ludvík Kundera (1891–1971), was an important Czech musicologist and pianist who served as the head of the Janáček Music Academy in Brno from 1948 to 1961.[8][9][10] His mother Milada Kunderová (born Janošíková)[11] was an educator.[10] His father died in 1971, and his mother in 1975.[10]

Kundera learned to play the piano from his father and later studied musicology and musical composition. Musicological influences, references and notation can be found throughout his work. Kundera was a cousin of Czech writer and translator Ludvík Kundera.[12] In his youth, having been supported by his father in his musical education, he was testing his abilities as a composer.[13][14] One of his teachers at the time was Pavel Haas.[15] His approach to music was eventually dampened due to his father not being able to launch a piano career for insisting on playing the music of modernist Jewish composer Arnold Schoenberg.[14]

At the age of eighteen, he joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1947.[16] In 1984, he recalled that "Communism captivated me as much as Stravinsky, Picasso and Surrealism."[17]

He attended lectures on music and composition at the Charles University in Prague but soon moved to the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) to study film.[18] In 1950, he was expelled from the party.[13] After graduating, the Film Faculty appointed Kundera a lecturer in world literature in 1952.[19] Following the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, he lost his job at the Film Faculty.[20] In 1956, Kundera also married for the first time, the operetta singer Olga Haas, the daughter of the composer and his teacher Pavel Haas and the doctor of Russian origin Sonia Jakobson, the first wife of Roman Jakobson.[21][22]

Miroslav Dvořáček controversy

On 13 October 2008, the Czech weekly Respekt reported that an investigation was being carried out by the state-funded historical archive and research Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes,[45] into whether a young Kundera had denounced a returned defector, Miroslav Dvořáček, to the StB, or Czechoslovak secret police, in 1950.[46] The accusation was based on a police station report which named "Milan Kundera, student, born 1.4.1929" as the informant in regard to Dvořáček's presence at a student dormitory.[47] But the report did not include his ID card number, which was usually included, nor his signature.[47] According to the police report, the ultimate source of the information about Dvořáček's previous desertion from military service and defection to the West was Iva Militká.[46]

Dvořáček had allegedly fled Czechoslovakia after being ordered to join the infantry in the wake of a purge of the flight academy, and returned to Czechoslovakia as an agent of an anti-communist espionage agency organised by Czechoslovak exiles, an allegation which was not mentioned in the police report.[46] Dvořáček returned secretly to the student dormitory of a friend's ex-girlfriend, Iva Militká. Militká was dating and later married a fellow student, Ivan Dlask, who knew Kundera.[46] The police report alleges that Militká told Dlask of Dvořáček's presence, and that Dlask told Kundera, who told the secret police.[46] Although the prosecutor sought the death penalty, Dvořáček was sentenced to 22 years of hard labour, fined 10,000 crowns, stripped of personal property, and deprived of his civic rights for ten years.[46] Dvořáček served 14 years in a labor camp, some of it working in a uranium mine, before he was released.[48]

In his response to Respekt's announcement, Kundera denied turning Dvořáček into the StB,[48] stating he never knew him at all, and could not even remember an individual named "Militká".[49] On 14 October 2008, the Czech Security Forces Archive announced that they had ruled out the possibility that the document could be a forgery, but refused to arrive at any other definite conclusions.[50] Vojtech Ripka of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes said, "There are two pieces of circumstantial evidence [the police report and its sub-file], but we, of course, cannot be one hundred percent sure. Unless we find all survivors, which is unfortunately impossible, it will not be complete." Ripka added that the signature on the police report matches the name of a man who worked in the corresponding National Security Corps section and that a police protocol is missing.[50]

Many in the Czech Republic condemned Kundera as a "police informer", while many others accused Respekt of committing journalistic misconduct by publishing such a poorly researched piece. On the other hand, presenting an ID card was a procedure whenever dealing with the StB in 1950. Kundera was the student representative of the dorm Dvořáček had visited, and while it cannot be ruled out that another student could have denounced him to the StB using Kundera's name,[47] impersonating someone else in a Stalinist police state posed a significant risk. Contradictory statements by Kundera's fellow students appeared in the Czech news media in the wake of this scandal. Historian Adam Hradílek, the co-author of the Respekt article, was also accused of an undeclared conflict of interest since one of the individuals involved in the incident was his aunt.[47] Nonetheless, Respekt states on its website that its task is to "impartially study the crimes of the former communist regime".[51] With time, the Western journalists realized the whole controversy was flawed, with French newspapers defending Kundera.[47] The literary scholar Karen de Kunes investigated the reports and came to the conclusion that even if Kundera had issued the report, all he reported was the existence of a suitcase in the hallway.[47]

On 3 November 2008, eleven internationally recognized writers came to Kundera's defence, including four Nobel laureates, Orhan Pamuk, Gabriel García Márquez, Nadine Gordimer and J. M. Coetzee, as well as Carlos Fuentes, Juan Goytisolo, Philip Roth, Salman Rushdie, and Jorge Semprún.[52]

In 1973, Life Is Elsewhere received the French Prix Médicis.[33] In 1979 Kundera was awarded the Mondello Prize for The Farewell Party.[53] In 1985, Kundera received the Jerusalem Prize.[15] His acceptance address appears among the essays collected in The Art of the Novel. He won The Austrian State Prize for European Literature in 1987. In 2000, he was awarded the international Herder Prize. In 2007, he was awarded the Czech State Literature Prize.[54] In 2009, he was awarded the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca. In 2010, he was made an honorary citizen of his hometown, Brno.[55] When he died the Greek Newspaper Efimerida ton Syntakton (Journal of the editors) published a special section where all the current affairs on each page were described with a book title of Kundera's.[56]

In 2011, he received the Ovid Prize.[57] The asteroid 7390 Kundera, discovered at the Kleť Observatory in 1983, is named in his honour.[58] In 2020, he was awarded the Franz Kafka Prize, a Czech literary award.[59]

Stripped of Czechoslovak citizenship in 1979, Kundera became a French citizen in 1981.[60] He maintained contact with Czech and Slovak friends in his homeland,[61] but rarely returned and never with any fanfare.[4] He was granted Czech citizenship in 2019.[62] He saw himself as a French writer and insisted his work should be studied as French literature and classified as such in bookstores.[63]

Kundera was married twice. His first wife was the singer Olga Haasová-Smrčková (1937–2022), daughter of composer Pavel Haas,[15] whom he married in 1956.[64] His second marriage was to Věra Hrabánková (1935–2024),[65] whom he married in 1967.[10] Vera reportedly was his secretary, translator of his works and the gatekeeper between Kundera and the outside world.[10]

Kundera died after a prolonged illness, in Paris on 11 July 2023, at the age of 94.[66][67] He was cremated in Paris on 19 July 2023.[68]

Book reviews; interviews

Awards received by Milan Kundera

Duel Atalanta vs Real Madrid pada leg pertama babak 16 besar Liga Champions akan disiarkan langsung SCTV dan live streaming melalui Vidio.com.

Laga Atalanta kontra Real Madrid pada leg pertama babak 16 besar Liga Champions akan disiarkan langsung SCTV dan live streaming melalui Vidio.com.

Watch Soccer action as Indonesia takes on Japan

Watch AFC Asian Cup Soccer action as Japan takes on Indonesia.

Financial performance

In its first published set of accounts in 2015, DAZN's losses before tax were £6.81 million. In 2016, losses before tax increased to £77.26 million. 2017 saw company losses before tax further grow to £259.4 million, and then in 2018 losses before tax were stated as over £520 million. Since the 2019 financial year to the most recent published set of accounts for 2022, losses before tax have exceeded £1 billion annually.[145][146][147][148][149][150][151][152]

Noted sports rights held by DAZN include:

Diversification of DAZN platform & continued expansion (2022–present)

In 2022, DAZN began diversifying its platform beyond sports streaming to include a range of other sports entertainment, including the sale of tickets and merchandise, sports non-fungible tokens (NFTs), gaming and betting.[100][101]

DAZN Moments launched on 24 March 2022, however, DAZN would later published a notice on their dedicated website stating that the service would be terminated on 30 November 2023, with no further purchases or sales available. DAZN Moments would no longer be held by customers after 14 March 2024.[102] DAZN's NFTs launched in tandem with the Canelo Álvarez vs. Billy Joe Saunders fight reportedly failed to generate a profit.[103]

In April 2022, DAZN launched "DAZN Bet" in the UK and signed a strategic partnership with Pragmatic Group to develop its sports betting product.[104] Shay Segev, Dazn CEO, said: "The convergence of sports media and betting is the future.”[105]

In May 2022, DAZN signed a deal to carry Red Bull TV, including live and on-demand content.[106] That same month, DAZN signed a four-event deal with KSI's Misfits Boxing, carrying cards under the branding "MF & DAZN: X Series".[107]

In June 2022, DAZN announced a global broadcasting deal with British boxer Anthony Joshua, beginning with his 20 August rematch against Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia. The deal was reported to be valued at £100 million per-year, with Joshua also becoming a brand ambassador for DAZN.[108]

In July 2022, Segev stated that there were plans to add more interactive features to the platform, such as "watch parties", alternative broadcasts of events, and sports betting integration.[109]

In August 2022, DAZN and Misfits Boxing launched "MF & DAZN: X Series", which is a series of crossover boxing events that have influencers and celebrities complete in the boxing ring.[110]

In September 2022, DAZN announced that it would acquire sports broadcaster Eleven Group, expanding its position in parts of Asia and Europe, and in global sports streaming rights and technologies.[111][112] The acquisition was later finalized in February 2023.[113] Details of the acquisition were included in DAZN Group's published accounts, stating that Eleven was acquired on a share-only basis, while £35m in funding was provided to Eleven subject to an annual interest rate of 14%.[114]

In 2022, the company launched DAZN Store in Germany, its online e-commerce platform for fan merchandise.[115] That same year, DAZN reported revenues of $2.3 billion, over 70% increase from 2021, making it the highest grossing sports app in the world.[116]

In January 2023, DAZN signed a five-year deal with Misfits Boxing, and a multi-year agreement with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) to carry its programming in 42 Asian and European territories.[117] In February 2023, DAZN announced that it had acquired the global rights to the NFL's Game Pass service outside of the U.S. and China under a 10-year deal beginning in the 2023 NFL season; it will be sold as a standalone subscription service on the DAZN platform.[118][119]

In January 2023, DAZN and Amazon agreed a global distribution deal for DAZN’s streaming service on Amazon’s Prime Video Channels platform.[120]

In March 2023, DAZN Chairman Kevin A. Mayer two-year term came to an end.[121] That month, DAZN also launched the DAZN 1 channel on Sky in the UK and Ireland.[122]

In May 2023, DAZN launched two new global FAST channels, DAZN Combat and DAZN Women’s Football, which will be available globally through LG, Samsung TV Plus and VIDAA.[123] In July 2023 DAZN announced a partnership with DAIMANI to launch an integrated ticketing product for DAZN subscribers.[124] The same month, it also launched in Belgium, Portugal, and Taiwan, transitioning from former Eleven Sports services.[125]

In August 2023, it was announced DAZN had acquired US-based women’s football streaming platform ATA Football.[126] DAZN also launched in France, with the company reaching a sub-licensing agreement with Canal+ to stream weekly Ligue 1 fixtures on the service, and offer carriage of a DAZN 1 linear channel for Canal+ customers.[127] DAZN also announced a five-year partnership with U.S. sports merchandise retailer Fanatics, Inc.[128]

In October 2024, DAZN reached an agreement with Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority, giving it exclusive rights (co-exclusive within the MENA region) to Riyadh Season events, and international rights outside of MENA for its slate of boxing events.[129] The agreement came amid rumours that the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) was seeking to acquire a stake in DAZN;[129] the PIF stated that it "has no current plans to invest in the company".[130]

In November 2024, DAZN entered talks with News Corp Australia to potentially purchase its 65% shareholding in Australian pay television operator Foxtel.[131]

Global launch and appointment of Shay Segev (2020–2021)

In March 2020, DAZN announced that it would expand into 200 additional countries worldwide, with an initial focus on giving wider distribution to its boxing and original content portfolio.[84][85]

With the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in widespread suspension of international sport, DAZN stated in late March 2020 that it would not pay rightsholders for content that had not been delivered under their contracts.[86] In May 2020, the Financial Times reported that DAZN was seeking further investments in order to secure the future of the business, which had been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.[87][88]

In September 2020, DAZN extended their carriage agreement with Eurosport through August 2023, and added Switzerland to the agreement.[89]

In October 2020, it reached a deal to sell stakes in Goal, Spox, VoetbalZone to Integrated Media Company (IMC), a portfolio of TPG Capital,[90] and in December 2020 it sold Sporting News to PAX Holdings.[91]

In January 2021, former Entain CEO Shay Segev was named the new CEO of DAZN, after having acted alongside founder James Rushton for the previous six months.[4]

In March 2021, former Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International executive Kevin A. Mayer became the chairman of DAZN, replacing John Skipper.[92] That month, DAZN secured the exclusive broadcasting rights of Serie A TIM in Italy and LaLiga rights in Spain.[93]

DAZN announced a five-year agreement with Matchroom Sport in June 2021.[94] It also announced a four-year global broadcasting deal for the UEFA Women's Champions League (outside of China, the Middle East, and North Africa) under which it will partner with YouTube to simulcast 61 matches during the 2021–22 and 2022–23 seasons.[95]

In July 2021, the company agreed an eight-year deal for the rights of Japan’s Women Empowerment League.[96]

In October 2021, DAZN launched its proprietary video player, Mercury.[97]

In November 2021, the company launched DAZN X, its innovation hub.[98] In December 2021, DAZN was awarded with the 2021 Apple TB App of the Year award.[99]

European and Asian launch (2018–2020)

DAZN launched in Italy in August 2018, with an acquisition of exclusive rights to 114 Serie A matches beginning in the 2018–19 season and other domestic rights on launch including the European Rugby Champions Cup, Showtime Championship Boxing, UFC programming, and the World Rally Championship.[64][65] In September, DAZN announced that in order to improve the accessibility of its Serie A rights, it would begin to offer a subscription-based linear channel on Sky Italia's satellite service.[66]

In January 2019, DAZN acquired the rights to broadcast the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in Canada and the United States.[67] In March 2019, DAZN doubled its U.S. monthly cost, but also introduced a new yearly option at a discount.[68]

DAZN launched in Spain in February 2019, becoming its eighth market.[69][70] The service went live with a roster of exclusive premium sport content including MotoGP, Moto 2 and Moto3 (2019–2022), EuroLeague, EuroCup and Premier League. Other rights included FA Cup, EFL Cup, Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana, EFL Championship, UFC, Golden Boy, Matchroom Boxing and PDC Darts.

On March 8, 2019, DAZN signed a three-year, six-fight deal with Gennady Golovkin, under which it would broadcast two fights per-year. The contract also includes two cards per-year from Golovkin's GGG Promotions beginning in 2020. The deal began with his June 2019 bout against Canadian boxer Steve Rolls. Golovkin's promoter explained that the choice of a Canadian boxer was intended to help encourage DAZN subscriptions in the country.[71][72][73] Golovkin cited the broadcaster's "global vision" as an influence on the decision.[74] On March 13, 2019, DAZN re-organized the Perform Media division into DAZN Media with handling of advertising and sponsorship sales for DAZN's global operations, including the "DAZN+" program (which coordinates "personalised communications" between its partners and subscribers), and DAZN Player (formerly ePlayer), the group's syndicated video content service.[75]

In April 2019, DAZN premiered a new show, Da Pull Up, hosted by Akin "Ak" Reyes and Barak Bess, and premiered the first episode of 40 Days - docuseries chronicling the lead-up to Canelo Álvarez's bout against Daniel Jacobs.[76][77]

In May 2019, the service announced an expansion into Brazil as its ninth market, acquiring rights to the Copa Sudamericana and Campeonato Brasileiro Série C, and other international football competitions among other properties.[78][79][80]

In July 2019, DAZN also reached a syndication deal with Eurosport in Austria, Germany, Italy, and Spain, allowing DAZN subscribers to access live and on-demand sports programming from Eurosport in these regions. In addition, DAZN sub-licensed 45 Bundesliga matches from Eurosport in Germany and Austria over the next two seasons — with 39 exclusive to the service.[81]

In July 2019, former Indianapolis Colts punter and WWE personality Pat McAfee signed a content deal with DAZN, which added television simulcasts of his podcast and The Pat McAfee Show to the service, as well as contributions to shoulder content for DAZN's NFL rights.[82] DAZN and McAfee terminated their broadcast partnership in May 2020.[83]

Writing style and philosophy

François Ricard suggested that Kundera conceived his fiction with regard to the overall body of his work, rather than limiting his ideas to the scope of just one novel at a time, his themes and meta-themes traversing his entire œuvre. Each new book manifests the latest stage of his personal philosophy. Some of these meta-themes include exile, identity, life beyond the border (beyond love, beyond art, beyond seriousness), history as a continual return, and the pleasure of a less "important" life.[40][verification needed]

Many of Kundera's characters seem to develop as expositions of one of these themes at the expense of their full humanity. Specifics in regard to the characters tend to be rather vague. Often, more than one main character is used in a novel; Kundera may have even completely discontinued a character, resuming the plot with somebody new. As he told Philip Roth in an interview in The Village Voice: "Intimate life [is] understood as one's personal secret, as something valuable, inviolable, the basis of one's originality".[41]

Kundera's early novels explore the dual tragic and comic aspects of totalitarianism. He did not view his works, however, as political commentary. "The condemnation of totalitarianism doesn't deserve a novel", he said. According to the Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes, "What he finds interesting is the similarity between totalitarianism and the immemorial and fascinating dream of a harmonious society where private life and public life form but one unity and all are united around one will and one faith". In exploring the dark humour of this topic, Kundera seems deeply influenced by Franz Kafka.[28]

Kundera considered himself a writer without a message. In Sixty-three Words, a chapter in The Art of the Novel, Kundera tells of a Scandinavian publisher who hesitated to publish The Farewell Party because of its apparent anti-abortion message. Not only was the publisher wrong about the existence of such a message, Kundera explained, but, "I was delighted with the misunderstanding. I had succeeded as a novelist. I succeeded in maintaining the moral ambiguity of the situation. I had kept faith with the essence of the novel as an art: irony. And irony doesn't give a damn about messages!".[42]

Kundera also ventured often into musical matters, analyzing Czech folk music for example; or quoting from Leoš Janáček and Bartók; or placing musical excerpts into the text, as in The Joke;[43] or discussing Schoenberg and atonality.[44]

Availability and access

The DAZN platform is available in over 200 countries globally.[9] DAZN is available on most connected devices including digital media players, mobile apps, smart TVs, and PC.[132][120]

DAZN is available as an Amazon Channel for Amazon Prime subscribers,.[120][122]

In September 2019, Comcast reached a deal with DAZN to offer an app for the service its Xfinity X1 cable boxes, becoming the first U.S. television provider to offer support for the service within their platform.[133]

The opening weekend of the J.League on DAZN saw multiple issues including buffering and other technical problems. Founder James Rushton would travel to Japan to make an in-person apology.[134][135]

The Canadian launch was met with technical issues, including inconsistent stream qualities, buffering, and latency between the streams and television broadcasts.[136][137] DAZN apologized for the "inadequate service" that it delivered and said it was working to rectify them.[136][137] As a result, DAZN began to distribute NFL Sunday Ticket to television providers in October 2017, as had been the case before.[137]

DAZN's broadcast of the Canelo Álvarez vs. Daniel Jacobs boxing fight on 4 May 2019 received numerous complaints for its streaming quality and claims of bias from the commentators.[138]

In Spain, Orange S.A. sought a settlement after DAZN's technical failures prevented both the transmission of La Liga matches to Orange and Movistar; together with incurring additional infrastructure costs. [139]

In September 2021, Italian consumer group Codacons threatened a class action lawsuit against DAZN to revoke its broadcasting rights for Serie A football, after complaints of service blackouts. Italian telecommunications regulator AGCOM and the country's antitrust body opened investigations into the service. Italian undersecretary for sport Valentina Vezzali said: "We are monitoring the situation so that everything can be resolved for the benefit of the users, who are the ones who want to see their teams on television and cheer for their favorite team."[140]

DAZN continued to suffer technical issues during the season opening day of Serie A in August 2022, and was condemned by multiple Italian politicians and Italy's consumer protection organization Udicon. AGCOM also intervened, leading to DAZN issuing an apology, and offering compensations to affected customers.[141]

In January 2023, DAZN agreed to take urgent steps to improve its service in Italy, after its executives were called to a meeting with Italian government ministers Adolfo Urso and Andrea Abodi.[142]

DAZN has been accused of unethical business conduct.

In 2023, their monthly subscription was advertised at $19.99/month, however, subscribers were locked into a 12-month contract (The details of which are disclosed in the fine print), and were not allowed to cancel until the end of the 12 months. The monthly subscription plan, called "Flexible Pass" and priced at $24.99/month, required 30 days notice in-advance of cancellation. The service would otherwise continue for another 30 days from when the user cancels, and the user would be charged on a pro-rate basis for excess time beyond the billing cycle. Only the yearly subscription would cancel at the end of the billing cycle regardless of when the user unsubscribes.[143]

DAZN was sued by the German Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (VZBV) over the alleged use of non-transparent contract clauses that allowed DAZN to make excessive contractual changes, including price adjustments. The Munich I Regional Court largely agreed with the VZBV, upholding many of the complaints.[144]

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The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Kundera's most famous work, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, was published in 1984. The book chronicles the fragile nature of an individual's fate, theorizing that a single lifetime is insignificant in the scope of Nietzsche's concept of eternal return. In an infinite universe, everything is guaranteed to recur infinitely. In 1988, American director Philip Kaufman released a film adaptation, which Kundera disliked.[17] The book focuses on the life of a Czech dissident surgeon's journey from Prague to Zurich and his return to Prague, where he was not permitted to take up work as a surgeon.[31] He worked instead as a window washer and used his job to arrange sex with hundreds of women.[31] At the end he and his wife move to the country.[31] The book was not published in Czechoslovakia due to Kundera's fear it would be badly edited. He eventually delayed the publishing date for years and only in 2006 would an official translation be available in the Czech language.[31] The book had previously been available in Czech, however, as a Czech expatriate in Canada had translated the book in 1985.[31]

In 2000, Ignorance was published. The novel centres on the romance of two alienated Czech émigrés, two decades after the Prague Spring of 1968. It is thematically concerned with the suffering of emigration. In it, Kundera undermines the myths surrounding nostalgia and the émigré's longing for return. He concludes that in the "etymological light nostalgia seems something like the pain of ignorance, of not knowing." Kundera suggests a complex relationship between memory and nostalgia, writing that our memory can "create rifts both with our earlier selves and between people who ostensibly share a past." The main characters of Irena and Josef discover how emigration and forgetfulness have ultimately freed them from their pain. Kundera draws heavily from the myth of Odysseus, specifically the "mythology of home, the delusions of roots."[35][36] Linda Asher translated the original French version of the novel to English in 2002.[37]