Cable network SportsMax will be providing live Internet streaming and television broadcast coverage of the ongoing Inter Secondary School Sports Association (ISSA)/ GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletic Championships.

The deal announced this week, will see the championships slated for Wednesday, March 30, to Saturday, April 2, broadcast live online and also on the various SportsMax channels throughout the Caribbean. SportsMax holds the International TV and internet licensing for the championships via a deal inked with ISSA.

The coverage into 22 regional markets, the United States and worldwide through the web is made possible courtesy of the GraceKennedy Group, through its respective Grace Foods and Western Union brands.

The Internet coverage will be streamed live on www.facebook.com/champsonsportsmax and www.livestream.com/champsonsportsmax.

This service, which will run from 1:30 pm to the end of each day’s action, is free and will only require the user to submit his or her email address.

With tickets being a scarce commodity this year, the partnership will allow local and international viewers the opportunity to catch the action.

President and CEO of SportsMax, Oliver McIntosh said the partnership will help to expand the network’s reach to a worldwide audience.

“SportsMax now has a significant and unprecedented stake in the biggest event on Jamaica’s local sporting calendar. No other sporting event pulls as big an audience across both hardcore and habitual sports viewers as Champs does.

“This complements our inventory of track and field offerings to track fans wherever they may reside outside of Jamaica and so we are very pleased with the opportunities presented to us through this deal to bring ISSA/ GraceKennedy Champs 2011 to an international audience,” he said.

The GraceKennedy Group have been title sponsors for ISSA Boys’ and Girls’ Champs since 2007 and the Western Union and Grace Foods brands are two of the leading corporate entities associated with the four-day event.

Noel Greenland, vice-president of marketing at GraceKennedy Money Services, expressed pride in his company’s involvement in putting the Championships on such a stage.

“At the start of our sponsorship in 2007, we set as one of our mandates to internationalise ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ & Girls’ Champs. We’re happy to report that four years later, SportsMax and ISSA have made that desire a reality,” he said.