Media

British broadcaster Talk Radio has stolen a march on the BBC's renowned Test Match Special by buying the rights to England's cricket test series against South Africa.

Organisers of next year's Sydney Olympics have slashed the Games budget, blaming the IOC corruption scandal for putting off potential sponsors.

The Nine Network in Australia is expected to retrench up to 25 sports staff after confirming that it will axe its two long-running weekend sports programmes.

Ireland's state-owned Telecom Eireann is set to pay IR#11 million for the naming rights to a planned 45,000-seat soccer stadium in southwest Dublin.

Sheffield Wednesday Chairman David Richards will be the full-time Chairman of England's Premier League for the next year.

South Africa`s 2006 World Cup bid committee said it was vital for the future of soccer as a sport and the World Cup as a multi-billion dollar business that the African continent stage the finals in seven years' time.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is set to join forces with four top soccer clubs and media group Cecchi Gori to buy 65% of Telecom Italia's digital tv operation, Stream.

South African media firm Primedia said it would pay 40 million rand ($6.6 million) for a major foothold in one of the country's top soccer clubs, continuing a global trend for media/sport tie-ups.

Among the diverse voices at this weeks Interactive Sports West 1999 Conference in Los Angeles Mark Cuban's stood out.

Among the diverse voices at this week's Interactive Sports West 1999 Conference in Los Angeles Mark Cuban's stood out.

The 20 English Premier League soccer clubs generated a combined turnover of #569.2 million - a growth of 23% - in 1997-98, according to Gerry Boon, chairman of the Football Industry Team at Deloitte & Touche.

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.

Unable to resolve a dispute involving Sunday night cablecasts, Major League Baseball has announced it is terminating its regular-season contract with ESPN at the end of the season.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, long stymied in the German media market, now has the chance to become a major player thanks to a bold back door deal, predict analysts.

The first broadcast deal for soccer's 2002 World Cup Finals in Europe has been agreed.

Germany's soccer fans and tabloids have expressed outrage after media mogul Rupert Murdoch swooped to buy European Champions League TV rights for his tiny, almost unknown TM3 women's channel.