ICE HOCKEY: Premier Sports picks up 2013 IIHF World Championships rights

The IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship will be broadcast live on UK television for the first time in its history after Premier Sports agreed a deal to cover the 2013 tournament.

The subscription channel, which operates on the Sky platform, will show 20 games of the 2013 World Championships taking place in both Stockholm and Helsinki from May 3-19.

In addition, Premier Sports has acquired the rights to show all of Great Britain’s games in the second-tier IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A, which will be played in Budapest between April 14 and 21.

FIGURE SKATING: ISU World Championships 2013 – Live on BBC TV & Eurosport

Ontario’s Budweiser Gardens will be the centre of attention for the figure skating world as the 2013 ISU World Championships take place from March 11-17.

With just a year to go before the Winter Olympics in Sochi the competition will be fiercer than ever between the world’s elite, and both the BBC and British Eurosport will be covering all the key action from Canada.

At last year’s championships in Nice, Italy’s Carolina Kostner was the star, winning gold in the women’s free, while Canadian sensation Patrick Chan won his second successive world title in the men’s event.

ICE HOCKEY: TeamGB 2014 Olympic Qualifiers – Live on ESPN

Ice Hockey UK has announced that all of Great Britain’s matches at the Olympic final qualifiers in Riga, Latvia, will be shown on ESPN.

The winners of the Group E qualifying tournament will progress through to next year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Currently 21st in the world, Great Britain will face their Latvian hosts, France and Kazakhstan, all ranked higher in the global standings, from February 7-10.

WINTER SPORTS: FIS Alpine Ski World Championships 2013 – Live on BBC TV & Eurosport

BBC Sport and British Eurosport will have extensive coverage of the 2013 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2013 in Schladming.

The Austrian resort has been a fixture in the men’s alpine skiing World Cup schedule for over 30 years and will play host to the biggest winter sports event of the year from February 4-17.

WINTER SPORTS: Ski Sunday returns for the 2013 season on BBC Two

The new series of the BBC’s long-running Ski Sunday begins on January 13 and will feature all the thrills and excitement of the men’s and women’s World Cup skiing season as well as the usual mix of news and views from the world of winter sports.

Regular presenters Graham Bell and Ed Leigh return to front the 35th series across seven weeks on BBC Two and BBC HD, culminating with the FIS Alpine World Skiing Championships in Schladming, Austria from February 4-17.

They will joined by Olympic skeleton gold medallist Amy Williams, who retired from skeleton last year, as all three also look ahead to some of top British hopefuls for medals at next year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, now just 13 months away.

WINTER SPORTS: European Curling Championships 2012 – Live on British Eurosport

Sweden plays hosts the 2012 European Curling Championships as the continent’s top men’s and women’s teams head to Karlstad for seven days of competition.

With the focus for the top teams increasingly turning to the 2014 Winter Olympic games in Sochi just some 14 months away, a high standard of curling is expected, with both Scotland teams hoping to challenge for medals.

British Eurosport will have live and delayed coverage of the championships from December 8-15, with additional live matches available via Eurosport Player.