Italy

Italian media group Cecchi Gori has voiced doubt over whether Mediaset or French private television station TF1 would take stakes in Italy's second digital television operator Stream.

Massimo Moratti, the multi-millionaire owner of Inter Milan whose father scaled the heights with the Italian club in the 1960s, has resigned as president.

SportsLine, the US internet sports information service, which runs web-site such as CBS SportsLine, soccernet and Golfweb, is to develop a $50milion European subsidiary in partnership with Intel, MediaOne and Reuters.

Italian Serie A soccer club Internazionale remain on course for a flotation despite the resignation earlier this month of their chairman Massimo Moratti whose departure was followed by several other board members.

Telecom Italia shifted its publicity drive for a planned merger with Deutsche Telekom into top gear with advertisements featuring German racing driver Michael Schumacher.

The German government's media commission, the Landesmedienanstalten has decided to regulate on virtual advertising.

Formula One's Bernie Ecclestone is in talks with Rupert Murdoch's UK BSkyB to broadcast the sport on pay-per-view.

The Italian Government, which had taken measures to minimise the influence of News Corps in Italian pay-TV, now says it welcomes Rupert Murdoch's presence in the sector.

The most important case since the Bosman ruling in the European Court of Justice revolutionised players rights will be made in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne next week.

European soccer's governing body, UEFA, has selected Synchro's Venuemaster software to manage its internal ticketing requirements.

Hyper-inflation has returned to the European soccer transfer market when Internazionale of Milan announced it had signed star striker Christian Vieri from Lazio of Rome in a world record deal worth L80bn ($43m).

The magistrate leading a probe into alleged doping in Italian soccer has compiled a "black list" naming scores of players suspected of substance abuse, according to newspaper reports.

Turin officials have identified Swiss rivals Sion as potential winners when the IOC votes this Saturday to decide the venue for the 2006 Winter Olympics.

European athletics chiefs have agreed to stage a new indoor European Cup in 2001, an athletics source said recently.

The IOC says it has no plans to move its headquarters - despite angry reactions from locals after it snubbed Switzerland's bid to host the 2006 Winter Olympics.

The Italian grand Prix, due to take place in Monza in September, could be in jeopardy, following a decision by the prosecution in the Ayrton Senna trial to appeal against the acquittal of two members of the William's team on manslaughter charges.