MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Live internet coverage for Island Games

The NatWest Island Games being held in Shetland this month, with the participation of a delegation from the Falkland Islands, will mark a technological breakthrough as, for the first time, live pictures will be available over the Internet.

This is due to the involvement of the Scottish Media Group (SMG) which is to provide the host broadcasting service and means that coverage of the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as some of the competitions, will be transmitted as they happen.

SMG will offer a free ?pool' feed to visiting television crews whilst a Media Centre is being established within the Clickimin Leisure Complex, staffed by experts in the field of IT and news provision. EventScotland and SportScotland are working in partnership with the organising committee and Katriona Bush of SportScotland is to manage the Media Centre.

Brian Partington, vice-chairman of the International Island Games Association, said: "This is a new concept for the NatWest Island Games with the profile of the event being taken to an even higher level.

"SMG Broadcast and Event Solutions will have around 38 staff working on its Games coverage, enabling people from our 24 member islands across the world to watch a sports meeting taking place ? in some cases ? many thousands of miles away. It is undoubtedly a major step forward for the Games itself and should lead to some excellent publicity for our hosts in Shetland."

With a population of 23,000 Shetland is the smallest to stage the gathering, as well as being the first Scottish island to do so. Orkney and the Western Isles will add to the representation from Scotland. The latter are competing for the first time following their acceptance, at Guernsey in 2003, as a member of the Games community.

The Shetland NatWest Island Games begin on July 9 with the closing ceremony six days later. For more information on the Falklands' involvement in the Games, log on to www.horizon.co.fk/fiogaFrom the FIOGA website you can access daily reports, photos and press releases. The Shetland Island Games website can be accessed on www.shetland2005.info(PN)