FIH agrees broadcast partnerships
to provide truly global coverage
June 14, 2017
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has agreed to a number of partnerships with key media outlets following the announcement of the teams to play in proposed Hockey Pro League. Although these deals are not directly linked with the Pro League they do give an indication of the FIH’s plans moving forward. Broadcast rights are key component of both the FIH ‘Hockey Revolution’ and the new league.
Following the announcement of BT Sport and DAZN earlier this month, FIH confirmed that ESPN Player, CBC Sports, TV Tokyo and TVP will join over 20 other broadcasters, including FIH Official Media Partner Star Sports, to show the upcoming Hockey World League Semi-Finals.
Under the agreement with FIH, ESPN Player subscribers across EMEA, including more than 50 European countries such as France, Italy, Spain, Norway and Portugal, will be able to watch more than 350 hours of live and on-demand hockey coverage.
Under the agreement ESPN Player will stream more than 130 games from the Hockey World League Semi Finals, which take place in London, Brussels and Johannesburg, starting on Thursday 15 June and running until Sunday 23 July 2017.
In addition, the men and women’s Hockey World League Finals (44 games) will be available in November and December 2017 while ESPN and FIH will continue to explore more opportunities for future events.
In Canada, CBC Sports will live-stream every game from the Semi-Final in London, England at cbcsports.ca and on the CBC Sports app over the next couple of weeks, providing more than 65 hours of free access to all Canadians without the need for a subscription.
Japan’s TV Tokyo has committed to showing every match featuring their men’s and women’s teams at the Hockey World League Semi-Finals in Johannesburg, South Africa, whilst Poland’s TVP will show all of their women’s matches from there. For nations without broadcast partners, the Olympic Channel will stream all of the matches from the upcoming Hockey World League Semi-Finals.
