ONE hundred thousand (100,000) subscribers is the figure SportsMax will be aiming achieve during their multi-platform broadcast of the prestigious GraceKennedy ISSA Boys and Girls Athletics Championships between March 28-31.

SportsMax, which acquired the international television and Internet broadcast rights of the popular event, will have free live streaming across the world, including 23 countries in the Caribbean and over one million homes.

Oliver McIntosh, SportsMax’s president and CEO, said the plan is to get an under-served ‘Champs’ into as many homes across the world as possible.

Said McIntosh: “This year we are targetting 100,000 unique viewers, which are the ones that subscribe. That’s really the target and it would make it the largest streaming in Jamaica and the Caribbean, and this is the right event for it.”

He added: “This is a business that we want to build and we have been working with ISSA over the last two years, and if we don’t take advantage of Jamaica’s position in track and field now, there is never going to be a better opportunity.”

This initiative was fuelled by a successful test run last year in which ‘Champs’ was streamed live to 127 countries and saw approximately 56,000 unique viewers witnessing the event.

SportsMax’s coverage also saw over 160,000 unique visitors over the four-day period to countries including the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, Iraq, Australia and Moldova.

The company has posted viewership levels of 234,788 hits based on reports compiled by Google and LiveStream.com Analytics with total of 4,468,581 page views for Champs 2011.

“We want to see it grow from strength to strength. Last year we did it and it was really a test and it gained some traction…and what we’re doing this year is really adding an element to it,” McIntosh said.

SportsMax, though its sister company, Caribbean Entertainment Everyday Network (CEEN), will bring the content into the Caribbean diaspora in the US Tri-state area.

“CEEN right now is showing in NJ, NY and Connecticut. We are launching into Canada by the end of the summer. We will visit Time Warner in April to launch with them and we are in discussion in the South Florida area,” McIntosh revealed.

“Every time we have an event like this, you see a bump in subscription, and that’s the plan,” he added.

SportsMax, which will be taking the feed from host CVM TV, will have executive producer Lance Whittaker and four-time Olympic medal winner Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago as anchors.

The attractive Yanique Levy, as well as Lennox Aldred will be on the ground conducting behind-the-scenes interviews and some highlight packages.

Whittaker, also a SportsMax vice-president, said he and Boldon, in between the live coverage, will analyse the performances.

“During last year’s coverage we saw how Ato was able to identify athletes’ techniques and running styles with his flair and knowledge of the sport. He is really a student of track and field and I don’t know many track and field athletes who know the sport as detailed as him. He is a huge plus for us,” said Whittaker, who has over 26 years in sports programming from his days at RJR and Barbados-based Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

“This year we’re going to have a presence at ‘Champs’. We’re going to have a team at the stadium. We are going to target, like coaches and teams statisticians, on… Friday and Saturday when ‘Champs’ get hot to inform us where these teams should be. When the champs get close, this is when the viewers want to know what is happening,” said Whittaker.

Meanwhile, fans in central Jamaica will be able to see the meet at Manchester High School via the SportsMax Zone.

“Because south central Jamaica has such a large contingent and many of them can’t make it to ‘Champs’, and because of the strength of the schools in central Jamaica, we tried to centralise it.

“We’re putting up stands, big cinema-like screens, entertainers and bring the ‘Champs’ feeling to an area which, unfortunately, can’t make it to stadium. At the end of the day we want to market ‘Champs’. This is the event,” McIntosh reiterated.