Japanese public-service broadcaster NHK has acquired rights for the International Federation of Sport Climbing’s (IFSC) 2016 season.
NHK will mainly broadcast free-to-air coverage of events on its NHK BS satellite-television channel.
IFSC events will also continue to be broadcast on the SkyA platform in the country, including live coverage of this year’s IFSC World Cup in Kazo, Japan.
The 2016 season begins this weekend with the IFSC World Cup in Meiringen, Switzerland.
NHK brokered the deal with Synca Creations, the IFSC’s agency in Japan, with assistance from the Broadreach Media agency, which has served as the IFSC’s exclusive media partner for the past two years.
IFSC president Marco Scolaris said: “Sport climbing is growing rapidly worldwide and this new partnership in Japan with Synca Creations, NHK and SkyA makes a new benchmark of how far we have come in Japan in the last two years.”
The deal comes after sport climbing was named as one of five new sports that are being considered for inclusion at the Tokyo 2020 summer Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee is due to make a final decision on the matter in August.