DaFU, The Danish Floorball Federation, has chosen web TV to broadcast pictures from the WFC 2007 and the IFF has agreed to spread the signal upon the Internet in order to spread the pictures from the WFC 2007, internationally.
The decision is the result of the decisions taken by Danish TV organizations such as DR and TV2, who have not been willing to engage as host broadcasters. Providing matches on the internet will serve the floorball fans, but unfortunately not spread the sport to new viewers to the same extent as TV would have done.
The IFF, who owns the international TV rights, will also distribute short reports from the Semi-finals and medal matches to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and other interested broadcasters.
Not all details have yet fallen into place. Questions regarding the Web TV production can be addressed to Mr. William Ehmsen at we@wfc2007.org.
DaFU considers Web TV as a great opportunity in the future. Small sports – such as floorball in Denmark – fight impossible battles to gain continuingly time on national television. The Internet and the explosive development of technology offer new opportunities to explore.
DaFU will of course deliver news clips to the Danish TV and the IFF will distribute news clips to other nations that are interested in the signal.
All the A-division matches from the Women’s World Floorball Championships in Frederikshavn can be followed live through Web Television.
The Danish Floorball Union´s hope is that the project Sport4U.dk will contribute to new possibilities for minor sports in Denmark such as Floorball.
The Danish institute IDAN, that analyzes questions and subjects regarding sports, has through two extensive reports set focus on the media situation for sports in Denmark. One of the conclusions made by author Martin Hedal is, that minor sports must seek alternatives to national TV.
The first practical result is, that every single match from the A Division during the forthcoming WFC can be seen live at www.sport4u.dk.
– It is the first time, that a sports event in Denmark is covered that intense on web TV. Other sports have had fine results with a combination of live streaming and on-demand clips. Therefore we are very excited about how people will welcome sport4u.dk, says project manager Martin Hedal.
Also the chairman of the Danish Floorball Union and WFC General William Ehmsen looks forward:
– If we, by taking part in this project, can contribute to the creation of a new media platform for sports in Denmark, it would make us proud. The potential for sports on the Internet is huge. Particularly within floorball which we consider as a sport of the Internet generation.
The project is supported by the Danish Sports Federation (DIF), Sports Foundation Denmark and the host city of the WFC 2007, Frederikshavn.
