By WILLIAM HOUSTON

Globe and Mail Update

Twenty years ago, hockey parents used to drive hundreds of kilometres to watch their children play junior hockey. Sometimes they spent time on the road just to get close enough to listen to the local hockey broadcast on the car radio.

Things have changed. Starting this weekend, the Ontario Hockey League will provide live broadband video feeds of some OHL games on its website. The webcasts will be free until the end of this regular season.

For the playoffs, consumers will be charged $8.99 a game. About 80 per cent of the playoff games will be on the Web.

"We look at it as a huge benefit for moms and dads and players to watch the games from home," said Aaron Bell, the OHL's director of communications. "I'm sure they'll get to the games as often as they can, but there's a time issue for them, especially for a Thursday night game or Friday night game."

Most junior games are televised by the local cable company. For those not produced by the community outlets, the OHL will use the "scout feed," which consists of one camera shooting from the press box. The audio of the local radio broadcast will be married to the video -- hardly a world-class production, but perhaps good enough for the local fans and junior-hockey junkies.

INSINC, the Canadian media-streaming company, has set up the OHL system. The Western Hockey League also plans to webcast next season. Bell said revenue projections have not been made.