June 27, 2013 – The television coverage report from the 2012/13 season provided by data provider Repucom summarises the detailed viewing figures from the FIS World Cup series. It features highlights such as the overall total broadcasting time estimated at 6’593 hours across the annually measured countries with the total cumulated TV audience for the seven FIS World Cup series in the Olympic disciplines at approximately 7’927 million television viewers.

In terms of both broadcasting time and audience, the Audi FIS Ski World Cup accounted for the highest volume with 3’221 hours and a total audience of 2’591 million. As a consequence of a season including the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Schladming fewer World Cup events have taken place compared to the 2011/2012 season and therefore there is a small decrease of broadcasting time and cumulated audience. Compared to the 2010/2011 season which also included FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER), media impact remained stable, despite less cumulated audience, but compensated by more broadcasting time. In Alpine Skiing, five countries (AUT, GER, ITA, SWE, SUI) and the Pan-European coverage by Eurosport generate more than 81% of the media impact (a combination of broadcasting time and audience), as in the previous season.

The respective figures for the men’s FIS Ski Jumping World Cup presented by Viessmann are 1’090 hours of broadcasting time and 2’315 million audience and for the FIS Cross-Country World Cup presented by Viessmann, 1’135 of broadcasting time and 1’865 audience. Compared to the World Championship season in 2010/11, in particular the broadcasting figures for Cross-Country Skiing, have seen a large rise of close to 25%.

Overall, Ski Jumping remains the discipline with the highest media impact of all FIS disciplines with close to 40% of broadcasting time generated by live coverage.This figure will be further optimised by the introduction of fixed starting times for the competitions during the next World Cup season. Meanwhile, the ladies’ FIS Ski Jumping World Cup saw a substantial 30% increase in media impact in only its second season.

Moreover, it should be noted that seasonal highlights like the Tour de Ski in Cross-Country Skiing and the Four-Hills-Tournament in Ski Jumping each generate one third of the total media impact in these disciplines showing the attractiveness of these formats.

FIS Alpine and Nordic World Ski Championships

Based on the viewing figures published by the European Broadcasting Union, the TV and marketing rights holder of the FIS World Ski Championships in the Alpine and Nordic events 2013, they were seen by almost 1.1 billion people worldwide. While some 632 million cumulative viewers watched the 855 hours of coverage (live, delayed, news or highlights) from the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2013 in Schladming (AUT), the total coverage of more than 714 hours from the Nordic events in Val di Fiemme (ITA) was enjoyed by more than 444 million global TV viewers.

May 08, 2013 – Today, CBC/Radio-Canada, the official rights holder broadcaster of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, and TVA Sports announce that an agreement has been reached to provide TVA Sports access to broadcast portions of CBC/Radio-Canada-produced Olympic programming during Sochi 2014 in French.

“In acquiring the broadcast rights to the Sochi Olympics, one of CBC/Radio-Canada’s primary objectives was to connect as many Canadians as possible with this unparalleled sporting event.” said CBC/Radio-Canada executive vice-president Louis Lalande. “Our agreement with TVA Sports represents a major milestone in helping us achieve that objective.”

“We’re very proud that the TVA Sports network was chosen to be one of CBC/Radio-Canada’s Official Cable Broadcasters and actively involved in presenting the largest sporting event on the planet. TVA Sports will be giving viewers the opportunity to get an up-close look at this major international competition and follow how Canada’s and Quebec’s athletes fare in their Olympic disciplines,” adds TVA Group’s president and CEO Pierre Dion.

“We’re pleased to have extended our relationship with TVA Sports as they become an Official Cable Broadcaster for Sochi 2014,” said Jeffrey Orridge, Head of Sports Properties and General Manager, Olympics at CBC/Radio-Canada. “This agreement provides an even greater opportunity for Canadians to enjoy every minute of the Olympic experience in either official language.”

Details about content to be aired by all channels will be available in the coming months.

CBC/Radio-Canada is the place to be as we count down to Sochi 2014. With coverage across all platforms — including TV, radio, online and mobile — Canadians can connect with the biggest stories and the latest content whenever and wherever they want it. Through world-class storytelling and the best performance coverage available, CBC/Radio-Canada will introduce viewers to Canadian athletes poised to take on the world in 2014. Canadians can engage with CBC leading up to and throughout the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games online in English at cbc.ca/olympics as well as on Twitter @cbcolympics (#cbcolympics) and at facebook.com/cbcolympics and in French at Radio-Canada.ca/olympiques and on Twitter at @RC_Sports #RColympiques and on Facebook at facebook.com/radiocanada.sports.

May 01, 2013 (Zurich, Switzerland) – “After the season is before the season,”. Under this motto, this week saw a specific TV seminar for Cross-Country Skiing held at the Hotel Hilton Zurich Airport on Monday, 22nd April, followed by the overall TV Briefing on Tuesday 23rd April, where all FIS disciplines had a chance to review the past season together with the main European broadcasters and TV rights holders.

The Cross-Country TV Seminar has become an annual meeting where the season can be analysed from the TV production and quality perspectives A group of more than 20 highly engaged FIS Cross-Country TV experts, commentators, representatives of the international TV rights holder Infront Sports & Media and FIS timing and data partner Swiss Timing, along with staff from both FIS and FIS Marketing AG, gathered in Zürich (SUI) to focus on possible TV production for each of the different competition formats, the World Cup calendar as well as on general development of Cross-Country Skiing.

Additional discussion points included inputs on various items such as the use of TV graphics, pre-event running order, winner presentations and international flash interviews.

“We are very happy about working together with such a highly engaged group of experts and Cross-Country Skiing enthusiasts. The annual TV meeting is one of the most important sessions after each season providing us with valuable feedback and interesting suggestions for the future of Cross-Country Skiing,” commented Pierre Mignerey, FIS Cross-Country Race Director.

The cross-discipline TV briefing on Tuesday featured reviews of the past season for each discipline by the respective FIS Race Directors with additional feedback presentations provided by the rights holders, European Broadcasting Union and Infront Sports & Media, as well as detailed input from the main broadcasters. The ensuing discussions focused on planned future enhancements in TV production, graphics and formats to continue to improve the presentation of the FIS disciplines on television. The upcoming season calendars and timelines for finalising the event starting times were also reviewed in detail. Thanks to all participants for a great dialogue!

April 26, 2013 (Mosjøen, Norway) – Bysprinten, the popular nordic ski festival in Mosjøen, Norway, will be featured in a two-hour live broadcast on the Norwegian TV network TV4 on Saturday April 27. For those outside of Norway, Bysprinten will be streamed live online at www.bysprinten.no/live and www.helgeland-arbeiderblad.no .

Event Organizer Lyder Sund of Helgeland Event is excited about live coverage. He is very satisfied with the first live television broadcast from the race. “There is no doubt that live TV coverage is the important for us. When we negotiate with potential sponsors on a national level, there are always questions about TV coverage. We are much more appealing to the sponsor market when we can offer live broadcast,” Sund said.

IEC in Sport will be producing the broadcast from the event, in cooperation with the crew from Bysprinten. Jon Ola Lien has been the producer the recent years, and the production has preliminary been shown on big screens at the arena. Also this year there is a big screen production, but at the same time the crew will be producing for internet and TV.

The company IEC is known as one of the largest producers of sporting events. In the world of skiing they are the producers of Swix ski Classics, but they produce many other sporting events. Among other, they cover 40 tennis tournaments every year.

Entire Norwegian National Team to Bysprinten
Bysprinten will guaranteed be a fast race this Saturday. The event will see nearly the entire National ski sprint team from Norway.

The National team with Eirik Brandsdal, Anders Gløersen, Ola Vigen Hattestad, Tomas Northug, and Øystein Pettersen will all be at the starting line. Only Pål Golberg is absent from the race.

“The recent years we have had the best sprinters in the world in place, and it looks as if they enjoy themselves up here,” said Lyder Sund.

Last year Eirik Brandsdal won just in front of Ola Vigen Hattestad after a dramatic last turn. Swedish Teodor Peterson had a lead, but crashed in a fence.

A Norwegian – Swedish duel?
History shows that the winners are hard to predict at this event, but we are confident that both Teodor Peterson and Robin Bryntesson are eager to beat the Norwegians. Little brother Cologna is also an exciting skier. He is a really good sprinter, says Sund. Gianluca Cologna is a new star this season. He is Swiss Champion, and has been in a final in the world cup.

Germany’s Top Skier
Tobias Angerer (36) began as a sprinter many years ago, and has become the winningest German skier. In 2004, he won his first world cup race, and has in a total 10 world cup victories. He won the overall world cup in the 2005/2006 and 2006/07 season. In 2007 he became the first male winner of Tour de Ski. This year, he is finally ready to compete in Mosjøen.

“It is really exciting that he wants to come to Mosjøen. He is one of the world cups ‘grand old men’,” said Sund.

Bysprinten Start List

Women:
– Katja Visnar, Slovenia
– Denise Herrmann, Germany
– Charlotte Kalla, Sweden
– Mari Eide, Norway
– Maria Nysted Grønvoll, Norway
– Laurien van der Graaff, Switzerland
– Magdalena Pajala , Sweden
– Sanna Halberg, Sweden
– Elin Mohlin, Sweden
– Johanna Meyer, Sweden
– Ida Indahl, Sweden

Men:
– Ola Vigen Hattestad, Norway
– Øystein Pettersen, Norway
– Robin Bryntesson, Sweden
– Teodor Peterson, Sweden
– Niklas Dyrhaug, Norway
– Eirik Brandsdal, Norway
– Anders Gløersen, Norway
– Tobias Angerer, Germany
– Morten Vannebo, Norway
– Rolf Einar Jensen, Norway
– John K Dahl, Norway
– Kalle Lassila, Finland
– Daniell Heun, Switzerland
– Anders Tettli Rennemo, Norway
– Andreas Myran Steen, Norway
– Kristian Tettli Rennemo, Norway
– Chris Jespersen, Norway
– Joeri Kindschi, Switzerland
– Gianluca Cologna, Switzerland
– Håvard Klementsen, Norway
– Magnus Moan, Norway
– Tomas Northug, Norway
– Even Northug, Norway

March 21, 2013 (Norway) – Alex Harvey and Kikkan Randall were recent guests on Norwegian late night talk show Senkveld (Late Night) with Thomas & Harald. Check out their great interview on YouTube (in English)!

March 01, 2013 (Park City, UT) – Women’s ski jumping will be featured on NBC’s “Rock Center with Brian Williams” on Friday, March 1 at 10 p.m/9 central. The segment, “Flight Delay”, shares the story of Lindsey Van and her teammates as they train to compete and make their Olympic debut in Sochi 2014.

“Rock Center” Correspondent Kate Snow interviewed and spent time with Van, Jessica Jerome, Sarah Hendrickson, Abby Hughes, Alissa Johnson, and Deedee Corradini, Women’s Ski Jumping USA president, in Park City and in Germany during World Cup competition.

“I’ve watched Olympic ski jumping since I was a kid, but I simply never realized there was a reason I was watching only MEN do the jumping,” said Snow. “When I heard about the fight these women have waged, I wanted to meet them.”

The Visa Women’s Ski Jumping Team is ranked No. 1 in the world going into the final two World Cup competitions of the season. The team is led by 18-year-old Hendrickson, who recently won gold at the World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy.

“The next year is going to be both exciting and critical for our U.S. women ski jumpers and we’re thrilled that Kate Snow and NBC’s ‘Rock Center’ chose to tell their inspiring story in prime time,” Corradini said.

February 06, 2013 (Nove Mesto, CZE)  – To commemorate tomorrow’s one year countdown to the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia and to kick-off its Road to Sochi campaign, the United States Olympic Committee, in partnership with NBC Sports and the U.S. Biathlon Association, will air two hours of same-day coverage of the 2013 IBU World Championships from Nove Mesto on the NBC Sports Network Feb 9 and 10 at 6 PM EST.  Universal Sports will air additional coverage of the opening weekend on Feb. 11 and 12 at 7 PM EST.

“Same day coverage of the IBU Biathlon World Championships on the NBC Sports Network is a profound step forward for biathlon in America,” said Max Cobb, US Biathlon President & CEO. “Biathlon has long been Europe’s most watched winter sport and now Americans will get a chance to enjoy the great drama and excitement that is biathlon.  It is a wonderful one year to go preview of the 2014 Olympics.”

Veteran play-by-play announcer Steve Schlanger, who provided commentary for the London 2012 Olympic Games and has experience in nearly 30 sports over his 15-year career, will work with biathlon expert Chad Salmela who will serve as the program’s analyst. Salmela, a biathlon coach and former competitor, was NBC’s biathlon commentator during the Torino and  Vancouver Olympic Winter Games.

“The Road to Sochi is about sharing our athletes’ journeys to the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and with just one year until the Games, we are thrilled to bring Olympic winter sport competition into living rooms across the country,” said USOC Chief Marketing Officer Lisa Baird. “America’s athletes are incredibly inspiring, determined and talented, and these Road to Sochi telecasts will help introduce their stories and their sports to the American public ahead of the Games.”

NBC Sports Network and Universal Sports “Road to Sochi” 2013 IBU Biathlon World Championship Schedule

Team USA Arrives in Nove Mesto for 2013 IBU World Championships 

2013 IBU World Championship Schedule
(all times CET, +6 hours ahead of EST)
Livestream webcast of all races will be available here

October 17, 2012 – Sweden’s TV4 Group has bought the TV rights for all the platforms of the world´s leading long-distance skiing championship, Swix Ski Classics. The rights are for the two following seasons; 2012/2013 and 2013/2014. The TV4 Group has acquired the TV rights to five of the six long-distance races in Swix Ski Classics by IEC in Sports. For TV4 this means an expansion of the range of winter sports.

– The long-distance races in Swix Ski Classics has developed very positively in recent years with a high increase in the number of amateur skiers, especially from Sweden, participating side by side with the world’s elite. We want to reflect this growing Swedish and international change with a highly expanded television exposure, says Hans Pekkari, Sports Director in the TV4 Group.

– We are very pleased to start a collaboration with TV4. I am convinced that the cooperation raises interest for Swix Ski Classics even further in Sweden, says David Nilsson, CEO Ski Classics AB.

The long-distance skiing races will be broadcasted live together with a parallel broadcast on TV4 and TV4 Sport Xtra. The last hour of the race will be broadcasted on TV4 and TV4 Sport Xtra.

Swix New Title Sponsor of Ski Classics Series
Swix Ski Classics is the long distance ski championships, consisting of six of the most prestigious ski events in the world: Jizerská Padesatká in Czech Republic, Marcialonga in Italy, König Ludwig Lauf in Germany, Vasaloppet in Sweden, Birkebeinerrennet in Norway and the Swix Ski Classics Final in Sweden (venue to be announces shortly), all 50 km or more and open for professional as well as amateur skiers.

The interest in long distance skiing is growing continuously and many of the races in Europe are fully booked just a few days after the registration begins. Swix Ski Classics is broadcasted on TV in several countries and many professional skiers have transferred from World Cup skiing to long distance races.

– The Swix Ski Classics is an impressive initiative from the key players in cross country skiing to build an exciting new platform for long distance cross country racing. This will grow the cross country skiing industry and we want to be a part of this, states Ulf Bjerknes, CEO of Swix Sport Group.

Ski Classics is very pleased to start this new cooperation with Swix, a market leading company with over 60 years of experience in segments such as ski wax, ski poles and clothing.

– Swix is prestigious and traditional, but yet innovative and creative at the same time. This agreement will for sure develop Ski Classics and I can hardly wait to get started with this season’s first Swix Ski Classics race Jizerská Padesatká in the Czech Republic, says David Nilsson, CEO of Ski Classics AB.

Swix Ski Classics is an exciting cooperation, which will include professional teams as well as amateur skiers. It is definitely a big opportunity for the partners to reach the final consumers and to develop an interest and commitment to long distance skiing.

– We have worked hard in order to find the best suitable title sponsor, and with Swix we have succeeded. Swix Ski Classics has also several other solutions for sponsors, one of them is in the title, “Swix Ski Classics powered by [company name]”, David Nilsson says.

Swix Ski Classics 2013:
– Event 1: Jizerská Padesatká – Czech Republic – January 13th, 2013
– Event 2: Marcialonga – Italy – January, 27th, 2013
– Event 3: König Ludwig Lauf – Germany – February 3rd, 2013
– Event 4: Vasaloppet – Sweden – March 3rd, 2013
– Event 5: Birkebeinerrennet – Norway – March 16th, 2013
– Event 6: Swix Ski Classics Final – Sweden – March 23rd, 2013

September 27, 2012 (Acton, MN) – A reporter and cameraman from Sweden’s national TV network visited Acton, Minnesota this week in order to film and interview U.S. cross country skiing sensation Jessie Diggins. At 21, Diggins has shot to the top of the world’s elite female skiers, winning World Cup silver in a freestyle team sprint event last season with Kikkan Randall and picked up an individual top five in a 10km race along with other notable performances. While Diggins is popular in Nordic ski circles at home, she’s less well-known as an athlete in the USA at large, but Sweden has taken notice of the young blonde phenom on xc skis.

Read the full article about Diggins’s international media visit on TwinCities.com HERE.

August 19, 2012 (Aspen, CO) – Recently, Noah Hoffman of the US Men’s XC Ski Team, was a featured guest on The Local’s Show, an Aspen, Colorado local TV talk show hosted by Erik Skarvan. Watch yesterday’s program online and learn more about this rising cross country ski star HERE.

January 18, 2012 (Toronto, ON) – Calling all cross country ski racing fans! The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has announced that it will broadcast highlights of the 2012 Tour de Ski this weekend, including Alex Harvey’s silver medal performance in the 8th stage in Val di Fiemme and the final climb up the Alpe Cermis.

The broadcast will feature commentary by Scott Russell and colour analyst Jack Sasseville (SkiTrax columnist) this Saturday, January 21st at 3:00pm ET. Relive the highlights of the race, including Devon Kershaw’s historic 4th place overall finish.

CBC’s broadcast schedule for the Tour de Ski:

CBC TV broadcast schedule:
– Sat. Jan. 21 @ 15:00-17:00 ET LIVE
CBC Sports Championship Cross Country Skiing: Tour de Ski 2012

– Sun. Jan. 22 @ 00:30-02:30 LOCAL
CBC Sports Late Night – Championship Cross Country Skiing: Tour de Ski 2012

cbcsports.ca broadcast schedule:
– Sat. Jan. 21 @ 15:00-17:00 ET LIVE
Championship Cross Country Skiing: Tour de Ski 2012

View the full CBC sports broadcast schedule HERE.

November 14, 2011 (Sweden) – Check out this great video profile of Canada’s Devon Kershaw, which was broadcast recently by Sweden’s SVT network. An SVT crew visited Kershaw in Canmore prior to his departure for the start of the World Cup season. In the 10-minute segment Kershaw talks about his life and background as a cross-country ski racer, his team sprint victory in Oslo last year with Alex Harvey, the importance of his guitar-playing to cope with the stress of elite competition, and living in Canmore, including tips on how to deal with the bears! Also listen for the funny background commentary by Chandra Crawford!

http://youtu.be/UNGZ5HO1ZlI

May 05, 2011 (Munich, Germany) – A group around 20 highly engaged FIS Cross-Country TV experts, commentators, representatives of the international TV rights holder Infront Sports & Media and FIS timing and data partner Swiss Timing, along with staff from both FIS and FIS Marketing AG gathered in Munich (GER) on Tuesday and Wednesday, 3rd – 4th May, to review the FIS Cross-Country World Cup season from the perspective of TV production. The focus was on further improvements for the upcoming season with special attention being paid to TV production of the different competition formats, the World Cup calendar and integration of the TV experts.

Additional discussions points included general feedback from past season, inputs on various items of carrying out a Cross-Country competition from the television perspective including the use of TV graphics, running order, Tour de Ski winner presentation and international flash interview as well as a news clip service.

“There were many interesting discussions and exchanges of experience. I’m always amazed about the great enthusiasm that our TV Cross-Country experts bring to support us with their ideas and help develop our sport. After the successful implementation of the Broadcasting Manual two years ago, I am happy that we continue to follow up and work on increasing the quality of TV production, which is definitely a key area to help grow the interest in our sport,” commented Vegard Ulvang, Chairman of the FIS Cross-Country Committee.