The World Curling Federation have extended two broadcast partnerships ©WCF

The World Curling Federation (WCF) has expressed their commitment to developing their existing broadcast partnerships with the USA Curling Association (USCA) and Champions Curling Tour.

Aimed at delivering more high quality television coverage to fans of the sport, the WCF will work with USCA to broadcast the event Curling Night in America over the next two seasons.

The 2015 edition of the competition saw over 40 hours of television coverage broadcast on the NBCSN channel, with nine episodes shown in total.

“Wide-spread TV coverage of championship level curling is certainly a proven method for furthering the interest in and development of curling in the United States,” said Rick Patzke, chief executive of the USCA. 

“It is also crucial that this coverage be of high-quality and delivered in a consistent pattern, such as with this year’s nine-programme, Friday night series that ran in the USA from January through March.

“We are pleased to continue our long-running partnership with the WCF and NBC – America’s Olympic network through 2032 – that positively impacts the growth of curling worldwide.”

The decision to develop the existing coverage was taken by the WCF Board at a meeting in Basel, where they also opted to expand World Curling TV’s work with the Champions Curling Tour.

The broadcast partnerships are aimed at growing audiences ahead of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics
The broadcast partnerships are aimed at growing audiences ahead of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics ©Getty Images

It followed a broadcast of the Stockholm Ladies Cup in September 2015, with the two parties now looking to make four Champions Curling Tour events available to broadcasters worldwide.

The competitions, which will take place throughout the 2016 to 2017 season, will also be streamed on World Curling’s YouTube channel here.

Decisions over which tournaments will be covered have not yet been taken, with the WCF stating that work will begin soon to identify the events.

“We are determined to deliver a range of top-class curling broadcasts to as wide an audience as possible in the build up to the 2018 Olympic Winter Games,” said Kate Caithness, WCF President.

“There is a growing desire from our Member Associations and supporters to see more TV coverage of curling championships and these commitments are a priority.”

Selected games from the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship are also being shown on the YouTube channel, with the tournament drawing to a close on Saturday (April 23).