Ice hockey scores Foxtel deal
By Robert Bremner
Docklands’ Icehouse is about to become more well-known throughout Australia, thanks to a new TV deal between the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) and Fox Sports.
In one of the biggest sporting countries in the world, it is a small step in the right direction for an organisation that already has to compete with the AFL, NRL, netball and the rugby union for spectators. It will showcase the amateur league across over 2 million households nationwide. The program will consist of highlights, news surrounding the league and the featured match of the week.
The channel will do a weekly 60-minute game of the round that will be shown every Thursday. This means that there will be 20 games going to air over the course of the season, plus the finals series.
Melbourne Icae president Emma Poynton said: “The games will be filmed on the weekend then screened the following Thursday. Foxtel aims to back the AIHL games onto the NHL games so NHL hockey fans can see what our own AIHL has to offer”.
According to Ms Poynton, by screening the two leagues back to back, it will help create awareness for the Melbourne Ice on a national level.
She also couldn’t thank ATC productions and James Morgan enough. ATC is a small production house which brought the hockey coverage up to a level that interested Foxtel.
The Foxtel deal will increase the viewership of ice hockey across Australia and will hopefully bring more people to the matches.
The inaugural broadcast was aired at 12.30 on Anzac Day and showed the highlights from the Melbourne Ice versus Melbourne Mustangs clash, which the Ice won 7-2.
In the weekend’s other matches, last year’s grand finalists New Castle started the year in great fashion crushing the Sydney Ice Dogs 6-2. The Canberra Knights just got over the line against Adelaide Adrenaline 3-2 before, Adelaide went on to smash the Sydney Bears 9-2.
The next Melbourne Ice game to be filmed will be on May 11 when they meet Adelaide Adrenaline.
To find the list of games that will be telecast on Fox Sports, just visit the AIHL website.
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