Media

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.

Organisers are considering radical reforms to the Davis Cup on the eve of its centenary in a bid to enhance its appeal and make the top players take it seriously, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has said.

Asia's financial crisis has cost the Asian Games $12 million in lost marketing revenue, the region's Olympic chief has said.

Scottish soccer is facing a crisis with clubs in the first division worried about the increasingly possible threat of extinction.

Australian cricketer Shane Warne's major sponsor Nike has said it did not condone Warne's actions in accepting money from an Indian bookmaker, but added it stood by the tarnished star.

Indian cricket officials, reacting to the Australian scandal in the sport, has said betting on cricket was common but involvement of players in match-fixing was a serious and so far unproved offence.

Future winners of the European Champions' League could collect up to 70 million Swiss francs ($52.0 million) in prize money, according to figures released by European soccer's ruling body UEFA on Friday.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is poised to appoint a commission to investigate allegations of betting and match-fixing, and it has vowed to take tough action against anyone found guilty.

Telecom Italia shareholders gathering in Turin are likely to be disappointed if they expect to hear that a digital pay-TV deal with media baron Rupert Murdoch has been wrapped up, industry sources said.

President Juan Antonio Samaranch has said the IOC would expel members from the organisation if they were found guilty of wrongdoing in the scandal over allegations that votes to win the games are for sale.

Newcastle United Plc has said it had received a preliminary approach which may lead to a 160 million pound ($270 million) takeover bid for the English premier league soccer club.

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, underwriter of a planned bond issue for Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One motor racing company, has said reports that other banks would take over the bond were inaccurate.

A German bank has offered to purchase all of motor racing tycoon Bernie Ecclestone's planned bond issue provided conditions including a reduction in the deal's size are met, bankers in London has said.

Pay-TV broadcaster Telepiu says it is confident contracts it signed for the digital rights for seven top Italian soccer clubs are unbreakable even if Rupert Murdoch makes a rival offer.

Isolationist North Korea has never been officially approached about the possibility of hosting matches during the 2002 World Cup, a top Pyongyang sports official has said.