Universal Sports to Air World Championships in theStates
April 23, 2009 5 Comments
UNIVERSAL SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, MAY 6
4 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
IIHF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – MEN’S QUARTERFINAL 1 (same day)
Site: Bern, Switzerland
6:30 p.m. – 9 p.m.
IIHF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – MEN’S QUARTERFINAL 2 (same day)
Site: Bern, SwitzerlandUNIVERSAL SPORTS
THURSDAY, MAY 7
4 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
IIHF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – MEN’S QUARTERFINAL 3 (same day)
Site: Bern, Switzerland
6:30 p.m. – 9 p.m.
IIHF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – MEN’S QUARTERFINAL 4 (same day)
Site: Bern, SwitzerlandUNIVERSAL SPORTS
FRIDAY, MAY 8
4 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
IIHF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – MEN’S SEMI FINAL 1 (same day)
Site: Bern, Switzerland6:30 p.m. – 9 p.m.
IIHF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – MEN’S SEMI FINAL 2 (same day)
Site: Bern, SwitzerlandUNIVERSAL SPORTS
SUNDAY, MAY 10
11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
IIHF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – MEN’S BRONZE MEDAL (same day)
Site: Bern, Switzerland
2: 30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
IIHF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – MEN’S GOLD MEDAL (live)
Site: Bern, Switzerland
Puck The Media 
Cool!
How many people actually receive Universal Sports? I know DirecTV doesn’t carry it.
These games should be on the NHL Network that has a wider distribution.
If you don’t get the TV channel there’s no need to fear, the games can also be seen online at universalsports.com
Universal Sports is an NBC digital subchannel in most major markets. you think they’ll have Doc & Edzo working the games?
Actually, they have been doing that for a few years.
They used to be known as the World Championship Sports Network, but they were only in a handful of markets then, and mostly relied on PPV internet streaming to reach their audience.
WCSN was co-founded by a former exec at Infront. Infront is actually the IIHF’s media agency.
Since the IIHF didn’t have any US distribution at the time, it was an obvious fit.
To compensate for its lack of distribution at the time, WCSN tried the option of arranging a PPV package for the 2007 IHWC with DISH Network, but it was pretty expensive and didn’t do much to bring the Worlds to a new audience, outside of a handful of die hards.
Little by little however, WCSN acquired rights to a number of neglected olympic sports properties, and NBC took notice.
They started expanding their distribution after NBC Universal took shares in the company and rebranded the channel. Now they are in about 45 million homes which is not huge in itself, but keep in mind that less than two years ago, that number was negligible.
It’s great to see the emergence of a credible media outlet for the IHWC in the States.
I don’t know who they will use this year (I doubt it will be Emrick), but I know at some point they used a guy from NESN called Eric Frede and he was, in fact, very good.
I wish they would do some cross promo for IHWC broadcasts during NBC Sports NHL broadcasts, showing highlights from Team USA’s games but I’m not holding my breath.
Showing hockey players donning the red, white and blue on network TV could help convey the feeling that hockey really is an American sport in its own right.
Their schedule is not very clear about that, but I think Universal will also show Team USA round robin game.