Events

The programming costs of the UK’s digital terrestrial sports channel ITV Sport will hinder the share performance of the network’s owners Granada and Carlton Communications, according to a research report from leading broker Merrill Lynch.

Go Racing, the media consortium run by UK broadcasters Channel 4 and BSkyB and track owner Arena Leisure, has hired its first marketing director just a few weeks after it agreed a £387m ($545m) ten-year multimedia racing rights deal with the British Horseracing Board and the Racecourse Association.

Organisers said they were not worried ticket sales for the world athletics championships were $1.65 million ($2.4 million Canadian) below their $8.33 million ($12.5 million Canadian) target on Wednesday, 16 days before the opening ceremony in Edmonton, Alberta.

The English Premier League has awarded the production contract for its 40 pay-per-view (PPV) soccer matches to satellite broadcaster Sky Sports in a deal reported to be worth around £2.5 million ($3.54m) a year.

The war on drugs in sport can never be fully won, according to newly-elected International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge.

Inter Milan's Uruguayan striker Alvaro Recoba has branded as unfair the upholding of a one-year ban for his part in a false passport scandal.

Charlie Ergen, chief executive of satellite platform EchoStar Communications, has confirmed the rejection of a merger bid for rival US broadcaster DirecTV.

The European Commission (EC) has challenged UEFA's policy of selling free and pay-television rights for the Champions League on an exclusive basis.

The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) has filed a lawsuit against Canadian businesses that it claims are illegally distributing pay-per-view telecasts of WWF events.

UK cable companies NTL and Telewest, both of which will broadcast Premiership pay-per-view soccer next season, may be forced into financial restructuring in the face of mounting debts.

The European Commission has given further details of its concerns over UEFA’s marketing of television rights for the UEFA Cup and Champions League.

The most commonly abused drug in sport, erythropoietin (EPO), is not being tested for at the World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka as officials try and isolate the sport from recent drugs controversies.

The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) has hired the chief executive of advertising giant WPP and the chairman of Australian telecommunications company Telesra, to help sell its marketing and media rights following the collapse of its former commercial partner, ISL

British Eurosport’s coverage of cycling’s Tour de France race helped the satellite channel attract an average audience of 69,000 on Sunday.

Ninety percent of the population of Beijing tuned into the broadcast of the Olympic vote on the host city for the 2008 Games which saw the Chinese capital emerge victorious.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter has stated that the fallout from the collapse of ISL, FIFA's marketing partner for more than 20 years, was not as bad as was perceived. Speaking at a news conference during a visit to Vietnam on Sunday, Blatter stated that there were no dangers to the staging of the 2002 World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea.