Media

Italian television group Mediaset has signed a deal to carry this year?s two European CART races.

Asian broadcaster ESPN Star Sports and HK pay-TV operator Cable TV have reached an agreement for non-exclusive distribution of ESPN and Star Sports channels in Hong Kong.

Scottish Premier League soccer champions Celtic have hailed a trial pay-per-view broadband broadcast a success ? despite just 30 percent of broadband subscribers watching the game.
Pay Per View Sport in Europe: A new report from SportBusiness Group: Click here

Rivals.net, the Chrysalis-based sports network, has appointed Clair Porteous as its first marketing manager.

Australia?s Nine Network will be the official broadcaster for the Tennis Masters Cup which will be held in Sydney from November 12-18 at the Sydney SuperDome.

ESPN-owners Walt Disney Co took a 26 percent hit in fiscal third-quarter pro forma profit as the entertainment company marked lower TV ad sales and theme-park attendance, and absorbed a $95million (?107m) charge for job-cutting costs.

Churchill Downs Inc (CDI), in conjunction with the New York Racing Association and Television Games Network, has lost out in its bid for the purchase of New York City Off-Tracking Betting Corp (NYCOTB).

Telewest Communications, the UK?s second largest cable company after NTL, said it would break even by 2004 after it announced better-than-expected results for the six months ending June 30.

Debt-laden Future Networks, the publisher of a string of magazines including one for English Premiership club Manchester United, confirmed that it was no longer in talks with a rival company about selling its business.

Yugoslav first division soccer club Partizan Belgrade will start broadcasting their own television channel on Friday.
European Football Channels: A new report from SportBusiness Group: Click here

English soccer clubs are missing out to the tune of #200m ($296m/?335.98) per year by not fully exploiting their intellectual property rights, Media Content plc CEO John Paul de la Fuente told the Broadcasting Football conference in London yesterday.

The televising of NASCAR races is keeping leading US networks in the red as they struggle to find advertisers in a bearish market.

Televising English Premiership soccer highlights on terrestrial television from 7pm GMT on a Saturday will bring a ?once in a lifetime change to the shape of Saturday TV,? ITV?s director David Liddiment said at a news conference today.

The return to the small screen of World Wrestling Federation (WWF) star The Rock gave US broadcaster TNN its largest ever television audience in the channel?s 18-year history.

The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) has been buying advertising slots from the media companies that broadcast its tournaments in a move which it hopes will secure advertising space for its major sponsors such as Mercedez-Benz.

Satellite broadcaster BSkyB has given the British government an undertaking that it will not increase its stake in, or launch a takeover bid for Manchester United.