Media

Motor sport's ruling body has dismissed any suggestion that a media rights deal it had negotiated with racing mogul Bernie Ecclestone could be nullified by the European Commission.

Telecom Italia's board of directors has approved an accord to sell part of its digital television unit to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, an industry source has said.

Yankees majority owner George Steinbrenner has said that should he sell his stake in the team to media giant Cablevision Systems Corporation, he and his family would remain in control of the club.

The ATP Tour announced a new series of elite tournaments and said the game's rules may be changed to make men's tennis more attractive.

Racing tycoon Bernie Ecclestone's efforts to raise $2.0 billion with a controversial bond have received a fresh setback as bankers said the London Stock Exchange (LSE) was so far reluctant to list the security.

Businessman Rod McGeoch, who spearheaded Sydney's bid to host the 2000 Olympic Games, has resigned from the board of the Games' organising committee.

Saudi Arabia has withdrawn from next month's Asian Games in Bangkok because the event clashes with religious and national festivals at home, Thai officials have said.

Only 6,745 athletes from 42 nations have registered to take part in next month's Asian Games by the deadline this week, compared with the anticipated total of more than 8,700, the Games organising committee said.

Margot Jackson, an Australian who won the 100 and 200 metres sprint double at the 1952 Helsinki Games, has been appointed to the board of the Sydney 2000 Olympic organising committee.

The bitter battle for control of Russian football has heated up with the head of the league questioning the veteran federation boss about allegations that large sums were diverted from soccer into banks abroad.

The Italian government does not want a single operator to have more than 30 percent of pay-TV soccer rights, Communications Ministry undersecretary Vincenzo Vita has said.

The decision by the Melbourne and Olympic Parks Trust to seek naming rights sponsors for two of Victoria's premier sporting facilities has caused a mixed reaction among tenants.

Soccer's international governing body has approved Winnipeg's plans for next July's Pan American Games soccer matches, after organisers agreed to improve the facilities.

Three days before Asia's biggest sporting event kicks off, harried Thai organisers are still battling bugs that threaten to turn the 13th Asian Games into a farce.

The Sydney Olympics won a A$200 million tax break from the national government's proposed goods and services tax (GST), a spokesman for state Olympics minister Michael Knight has said.

The Italian government is increasingly worried that media baron Rupert Murdoch might take control of a pay-TV venture planned with Telecom Italia but the Football League was more welcoming.