The International Federation of Sports Climbing has formally bolstered its partnership with Japan based Synca Creations with a new online media agreement which will include the televising of the broadcast videos delivered online/on phone, also extending the IFSC TV Broadcasting market to Japan.
The Partnership
The partnership between IFSC and Synca Creations goes back to 2013, when IFSC shook hand with the company to aid its online/mobile broadcasting network to take the sport to a larger base. Earlier in 2016, the IFSC renewed the television agreement with its long-time partner.
Speaking about this new upgrading of online media deal, Soojun Bae, Director of Synca Creations, said, “It has been exciting to experience the growth of Sport Climbing all the way with the IFSC. This deal will bring us new opportunities which meet the increasing interest in this sport, especially after the IFSC World Championships this year where we had a Japanese world champion for the first time ever.”
This new deal with Synca Creations also hints at achievement of yet another milestone in a year of significant events for Sport Climbing and the IFSC. In August this year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved the inclusion of Sport Climbing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games programme, under additional sports along with four other sports viz. Baseball/Softball, Karate, Skateboard & Surfing.
Weeks after that, the International Federation and Fédération Francaise de la Montagne et de l’Escalade (FFME) hosted one of the most important & talked about Sport Climbing events ever, with 146 accredited media representatives followed by well over 500,000 viewers of IFSC digital media for the event in Paris.
It was at the same time that the IFSC announced Live international delivery of its events in Japan on SkyA, airing an IFSC event outside of Europe for the first time. This was to express the growth of Sport Climbing and the IFSC is in progress with the steps to pursue fresh broadcasting arrangements which match the increasing demand.
Speaking about this new deal, IFSC President Marco Scolaris said, “We’re delighted with this new deal with Synca Creations in Japan. The deal indicates the perpetual growth of our sport and the IFSC’s continued penetration in television and online media markets worldwide.”
The deal is in-time with the requirements as Japan is supposed to host the next Olympics, at Tokyo in 2020, which has Sport Climbing as one of the additional sports.