US Figure Skating has agreed a new rights deal with the NBC network, while the Icenetwork.com website, a subsidiary of the sport’s governing body in the US, has acquired rights for events operated by the International Skating Union (ISU) global governing body.
US Figure Skating’s deal with NBC will run for four years, from 2014-15 to 2017-18, and will guarantee a minimum of 11 hours of programming per year, including two hours in primetime, from the Skate America event and the US Figure Skating Championships.
US Figure Skating’s existing agreement was due to expire at the end of the 2013-14 campaign.
Icenetwork.com, which is operated and managed by Major League Baseball’s media arm, MLB Advanced Media, will show live coverage of the World Figure Skating Championships, the Four Continents Championships and the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series.
As part of the agreement with the ISU, the website’s coverage will be made available to NBC, along with US cable-television channels NBC Sports Network and Universal Sports.
NBC Sports Network will broadcast selected ISU speed skating events, including the World Sprint Speed Skating Championships and the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships.
Universal Sports will show more than 50 hours of programming per year dedicated to figure skating and speed skating, including the World Figure Skating Championships, European Figure Skating Championships, Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, Grand Prix Series and selected speed skating competitions.