The International Paralympic Committee has hailed “unprecedented” coverage of its 2015 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships A-Pool through an agreement with the NBC Sports Group division of US media company NBCUniversal.
The event is taking place in Buffalo, New York from April 26 to May 3 and NBC Sports has committed to 40 hours of action, culminating with live coverage of the gold medal game on NBC Sports Network.
As part of NBC Sports’ coverage, live streaming service NBC Sports Live Extra will provide complete coverage of all 20 games from the competition.
NBCSN will televise up to three games featuring the US national team, beginning on April 29 when Team USA faces Italy in preliminary-round action, followed by a semi-final match on May 1 before the final itself. The first two games will air following live NHL Stanley Cup playoff coverage on NBCSN as same-day delay broadcasts.
Xavier Gonzalez, IPC chief executive, said: “The sport has gained huge popularity in the US and worldwide in the last 12 months, and this agreement shows that major broadcasters are continuing to recognise the value and demand for para-sport, as well as representing a fantastic opportunity for new partners for Buffalo 2015.”
In other news, IPC Powerlifting has said all four days of competition from the 2015 IPC Powerlifting Americas Open Championships in Mexico City will be streamed live via Mexico-City-2015.com from April 26.
The coverage is part of a sport-wide aim to bring greater coverage for powerlifting in 2015, ahead of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Mexico City 2015 is a key qualification stop for August’s Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games in Canada and Rio 2016. The event will feature around 120 athletes from 25 countries.