(File photo/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Angela Brown

Hockey online

Hockey to be live-streamed in Battleford

Sep 14, 2020 | 3:31 PM

Battleford Arena hockey games will have an opportunity to be live-streamed in the future, so fans will be able to watch the action from home.

Through a new agreement with the town, Live Barn Inc. will provide a fully automated sports broadcasting system to deliver live and/or on demand video and audio streaming to internet connected devices.

Mayor Ames Leslie said this will offer fans another way to see the game, if they are not allowed into the arena or only a limited number are permitted due to the province’s COVID-19 restrictions.

“This will give the ability for grandma and grandpa, mum and dad, cousins, and relatives to be able to watch the youth of our community continue to play hockey,” he said.

Through the agreement, Live Barn would have exclusive rights to live-stream games for six years.

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People will need to pay a monthly subscription fee so they can sign in to view the games online.

“The town will receive 30 per cent of all subscriptions,” Leslie said. “People pay to use this. So hopefully it will be a cost recovery.”

The town will advertise the live-stream broadcasts.

At their cost Live Barn will supply, install, and maintain all hardware and software required for the automated online broadcast service.

The cost for the town would be from $52.95 to $89.95 per month, depending on the contract, for the internet connection.

Based on Live Barn’s website, the fee to sign up would be $15.25 per month, when factoring in a 10 per cent discount available to users subscribing through the town’s promotional code.

The town would receive its portion of the revenue when there are an average total of 20 code-subscribers per month.

As well, the town would have the ability to black out certain times if it chose to do so.

Coun. Doug Laing said live-streaming is a good idea as it “gives everyone a good opportunity to watch the games.”

He said since the authorities do not know what the future holds related to COVID-19 at this point, showing the games online is a “good option for now.”

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW