The men and women’s hockey world cups will shown on BT Sport after the broadcaster signed a two year deal “to become the home of UK and Irish international hockey.”
Today’s deal with the International Hockey Federation will see the channel broadcast more than 700 hours of live coverage over the next two years, including the women’s World Cup in London and the men’s World Cup in India.
This year’s line-up also includes 2 one-off internationals in which the women’s team will take on Argentina and the Netherlands.
Competitions to be screened in 2017 include both the men’s and women’s World League semi-finals, as well as the finals which will be broadcast in November and December from Auckland, New Zealand and Bhubaneswar, India respectively.
BT Sport’s coverage for 2018 will see many of the gold medal winning women’s Team GB from the Rio 2016 Olympics look to become World Champions in London in front of a home crowd at the World Cup, starting in July.
The final planned broadcast of the deal will see the men’s Hockey World Cup in November and December 2018, from Bhubaneswar in India.
Simon Green, head of BT Sport, said: “I’m really excited that BT Sport is now the home of international hockey for men and women, including the prestigious World Cups.
“Hockey continues to grow and has done so ever since the women’s Team GB team won the gold medal at the Rio Olympics.
“This will help build on the popularity of the sport and give the UK viewers a chance to cheer on the home nations represented at the World Cup and hopefully see more medals won, exclusively live on BT Sport.”
Andy Oram, FIH TV and Broadcast Director said: “BT Sport were first to believe and commit to the Hockey Revolution, long before the success in Rio and we are delighted to continue our relationship and vision with them.
“Their world-class production of the Hockey Champions Trophies in London last year introduced ground-breaking innovations for our sport and has set some very high standards as we move towards our World Cups in 2018.
“As host broadcaster for the upcoming international events in London we look forward to working with them to make BT Sport the exclusive ‘Home of Hockey’ in the UK and Ireland.”