By Lauren Mattera 

FIS freestyle skiingJuly 20 - The past freestyle skiing and snowboarding season has witnessed a major growth in television coverage, despite a drop in the number of skiing competitions being broadcasted, it has been revealed.

Sports marketing firm Infront Sports & Media, which measures global television transmission, reported that although only 30 of the 37 International Ski Federation (FIS) freestyle skiing competitions were aired from the past season – a fall from 36 on the previous season – 2,340 hours of footage was transmitted around the world compared with 1,596 last year.

Live action from the FIS Snowboard World Cup also saw a rise, with more than 1,420 hours of coverage from 24 of the 27 competitions compared with 1,012 hours from 17 of last year's 27 events.

Figures from Sunset+Vine, the television rights holder of the 2013 FIS Freestyle Skiing and FIS Snowboard World Championships, provided 115 hours of coverage across 500 countries from the freestyle skiing event in Voss, Norway in March.

FIS snowboardingThe FIS Snowboard World Championship in Canada was aired in almost 100 countries

























Meanwhile, more than 117 hours of coverage was aired in almost 100 countries for the FIS Snowboard World Championship, held in Stoneham, Canada in January.

"Interest in our discipline is very high," said Joseph Fitzgerald, FIS freestyle skiing coordinator.

"We have six times the number of competitors compared to ten years ago and interest from broadcasters – particularly in Europe – has grown significantly.

"Core winter sports markets of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Norway air Freestyle events every weekend.

"We have always been strong in North America and Japan, so we now have a growing global presence."

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