Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard See Upswing in Broadcasting Time

Infront Sports & Media, which measures TV transmissions by its licensed broadcasters around the world, reported that both Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard’s past season have seen a significant increase in television coverage.

Although only 30 out of 37 Freestyle Skiing competitions were broadcast live this year – a fall from 36 last season – broadcasters transmitted in total more than 2,340 hours compared with the previous season’s 1,596 hours.

The FIS Snowboard World Cup also saw a rise in live coverage both in terms of number of events and total broadcast time: over 1,420 hours from 24 out of 27 competitions were broadcast live, compared with 1,012 hours from 17 of 27 last year.

Sunset+Vine, the TV rights holder of the 2013 FIS Freestyle Skiing and FIS Snowboard World Championships, published viewing figures indicating that a total of 115 hours of coverage (live, delayed, new or highlights) was broadcast in over 500 countries from the Freestyle Skiing World Championship in Voss, Norway. More than 117 hours of coverage was aired in almost 100 countries for the Snowboard World Championship, held in Stoneham, Canada.

Joseph Fitzgerald, FIS Freestyle Skiing Coordinator, said of the increased numbers: “Interest in our discipline is very high. We have six times the number of competitors compared to ten years ago and interest from broadcasters – particularly in Europe – has grown significantly. Core winter sports markets of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Norway air Freestyle events every weekend. We have always been strong in North America and Japan, so we now have a growing global presence.”