Wouldn't it be great to see live coverage of the World Cup ski races? The letter below was a suggestion for just this that was posted to the Rec.Nordic.Skiing newsgroup. There is an internet service that negotiates the rights to tv broadcasts and distributes them to paying customers over the internet. It looks like some events are priced $7-10, and you can get a live streaming feed or download a single at a later time. The service doesn't allow you to burn backups of the races, but it does allow you to store them on your computer and watch them as often as you want... but an entire World Cup season might require a few large hard drives!
You may be interested in voicing your support for this initiative, or checking out their other sports coverage.
>> Hi Everybody,
>>
>> I was looking at what Mediazone.com had to offer for recent online sports
>> events. They are the ones who carried the Giro d'Italia last spring via
>> live video feed. They also do World Cup Soccer, Eurovision, Mountain
>> Biking Championships, etc. I contacted them to see if they plan to do
>> carry and european XC skiing or World Cup Biathlon.
>>
>> Sean Sweeney wrote me back wondering how much support is out there should
>> his company decide to offer these races. They usually charge a fee, like
>> $5-7 or so, for an event. I told him that I didn't have numbers, but
>> asked him if I could post his contact information so that you all could
>> contact him so that he could get an idea as to the North American demand
>> for these races. He said he's been looking into new winter sports to
>> cover, but needs to know if there are enough people interested.
>>
>> So the check out the website at www.mediazone.com . And write Sean
>> Sweeley at Ssweeney@mediazone.com and let him know how much you desire
>> them to cover xc skiing and biathlon. We'll see if it works.
>>
>> Brian
>>
>> P.S. Here's the letter he wrote back to me:
>>
>> Brian,
>> Please, go ahead and post my email address: Ssweeney@mediazone.com
>>
>> And let them know we're trying to assess the need. We're
>> already in discussions with MediaPartners Italia for FIS Nordic events as
>> well as discussions with USSA about marketing opportunities if we get
>> these rights. It's all just discussions right now and the fees being
>> asked must be justified with a paying audience.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Sean Sweeney
>>
>> Business Development
>>
>> MediaZone
>>
>> o: 650-292-0743
>>
>> m: 650-346-4824
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