OSTERSUND – The 2008 World Junior Curling Championships have shone a light on the newsest crop of junior curling stars, and the Swedish city in which they are competing.

It has also thrown a spotlight on a dynamic curling secret, which Swedish curling fans have been enjoying for a couple of years now.

Curlingkanalen is a Swedish-based curling web channel, offering live coverage of various Swedish league and national championship games. The World Juniors has now introduced the global web viewer to its services, which include multiple cameras, player microphones, and play-by-play commentary.

The Curlingkanalen crew also like to call upon guest commentators throughout the week. Once such guest has been the World Curling Federation president, Les Harrison of Canada.

"I have done this before," Harrison smiled.

"I've done a lot of community cable and a bit of Rogers local broadcasting back home, including various New Brunswick (provincial) curling events.

"It's very enjoyable to have the opportunity to promote our sport alongwith discussing WCF issues via this webcasting medium," Harrison added. "It's available free of charge around the world, and it's a great service."

Harrison complimented the organization for adding extra bandwidth availability to global curling fans.

"Curlingkanalen has done a great job with limited resources and some WCF assistance and sponsorship to get the WJCCs on the air," said Harrison.

"It might be a somewhat limited audience, but they're certainly enthusiastic. We are very pleased they are providing coverage of this world championship." 

To launch the live curling portal, visit curlingkanalen.se and click on either Titta direct! or the "Live" logo.