SM-Liiga ice hockey games to be shown by cable networks after all

Ahti Leväaho

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The SM-Liiga, Finland's premier ice hockey league, will be made available for viewing by more people in the Helsinki area after all. The capital area’s largest cable-TV operator, Welho, and the chargeable URHO-TV channel, which acquired the SM-Liiga screening rights in the spring, have entered into an agreement over the broadcasting of the SM-Liiga matches.
     
Above all, this is a significant arrangement from the point of view of our customers”, says Johan Flykt, President of broadband and cable-TV operator Welho.
      Last night Welho aired the season’s opening game between JYP from Jyväskylä - the current Finnish Champions - and KalPa from Kuopio free of charge. On Saturday another SM-Liiga match will be shown for free.
      “We wanted to provide our viewers with a chance to see these games for free while allowing them some time to sort things out”, Flykt reasons.
      Welho is the capital area’s largest cable-TV operator, with a subscriber base of 325,000 households.
     
”A contract has been signed with all the significant cable operators in the country”, says URHO-TV managing director Ahti Leväaho.
      “Our coverage is now around 90 per cent on the antenna-TV side, and nearly a hundred per cent on the cable side”, Leväaho continues.
     
Just a day before the start of the SM-Liiga season it still looked like hardly anyone was going to be able to view the games.
      “I would imagine we already have a subscriber base of around 50,000 to 100,000 households”, Leväaho enthuses.
      Welho is part of the Sanoma Group, which also publishes Helsingin Sanomat through its Sanoma News arm.
     
Subscribers to the sport will in any event need plenty of stamina: the league started exceptionally early this year and will go through to the play-offs for the Canada Cup trophy in early May.
      JYP did not make a very good beginning to their campaign. They lost 4-1 at home to KalPa, while another of the fancied names this year - Helsinki Jokerit - overcame local rivals HIFK by the same score in the Hartwall Arena.
      The Helsinki region's third team Espoo Blues also stumbled out of the starting blocks - they went down 4-2 at home to Lahti Pelicans.
      The biggest surprise of the opening round was provided by SaiPa of Lappeenranta, who thrashed last season's beaten finalists Oulu Kärpät 4-0.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  This season´s Finnish premier ice hockey league games available to exceptionally small number of cable-TV subscribers (9.9.2009)
  JYP Jyväskylä celebrates first-ever Finnish ice hockey title (15.4.2009)

Helsingin Sanomat