18th September 2007

Weekly ice hockey made a dramatic return to Sky Sports on Thursday 13th September, as Televideo began production of a 31-show series. In conjunction with the Elite Ice Hockey League and the Sports Channel, Televideo will produce 24 league games, as well as Challenge Cup games, Playoffs and the Playoff Final. International ice hockey games featuring Great Britain will also be broadcast exclusively on Sky Sports.

Ice Hockey will be the second of Televideo’s productions for Sky Sports, with the Netball Superleague Series, which debuted last year, having being taken for a further 3 years by BSkyB.

The hockey deal has been in the pipelines for some time. Paul Scivill, Managing Director of the Televideo Group, is extremely pleased that the green light has been given: “This is a fantastic opportunity for both Televideo and for ice hockey. Having done hockey in the past we look forward to returning to the rink, it’s a great game visually – fast and competitive, it looks fantastic onscreen. We hope that the television coverage will benefit all involved – the fans certainly welcome the return of their sport to television, especially in the form of a weekly series on Sky.”

The programme, presented by former player Nick Rothwell, will feature a full game each week, as well as guests, interviews, post-game analysis and features. Televideo will travel across the UK to each of the 10 teams in the EIHL, from Belfast to Basingstoke, producing top-quality programming to be broadcast on Sky Sports each week, with repeats the following morning. The Elite Ice Hockey League enjoys massive spectatorship, and Televideo hope that the new series will enable supporters to enjoy the sport from both rink-side and the comfort of their own homes.

The first televised game of the season saw arch-rivals Sheffield Steelers take on the Nottingham Panthers from the Hallam FM Arena in Sheffield. The game certainly opened the new series with a bang – viewers witnessed an end-to-end clash, with the usual bumps, bruises and battles synonymous with ice hockey adding to the action.