In total, Infront Sports & Media, the exclusive media and marketing partner to the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for its flagship tournament, has closed agreements with around 60 broadcast partners on all continents.

Handling all forms of electronic media rights for the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship on a global basis, Infront has distributed the television rights to over 115 countries and territories worldwide. Six CIS countries (including Georgia and Armenia) are newly covered through an agreement with MIR TV. In 2013, the event had achieved an all-time high cumulative television audience of 975.15 million.

Adding visibility in territories where no conflicting media rights agreements are in place, Infront will again offer a high quality video streaming service, which is fully integrated into the official federation website www.iihf.com. The flexible system allows live and on demand coverage for supporters to select games and highlights or subscription to a tournament pass (one-off fee of EUR 34.90), a ‘Follow your team’ pass (EUR 19.90) or a Playoff pass (EUR 19.90).

More than 20 cameras shooting the action

The full host broadcast operation is managed and co-ordinated by Infront’s media production team and will include 20 cameras around the ice rink for every game, including ultra-high-speed, in-goal and overhead centre-circle. The HDTV signal will be produced, edited and transmitted by two outside broadcast vans, supported by an additional eight production trucks situated at the two arenas in Minsk. In addition, Infront will be providing support for broadcasters in their unilateral production, as well as with transmission and commentary facilities together with the provision of live statistics and additional services.