Media

NBC and Fox's hardball efforts to negotiate new baseball rights have thrown the bidding process wide open, according to Variety magazine.

Police have arrested 15 people in Hong Kong in connection with illegal soccer bookmaking involving about HK$18 million (US$2.3 million).

Symah Vision has signed an exclusive agreement in Korea with Sky Investment Advisors Group (SIAG) and its newly created Ad Virtual Co. Ltd - with the aim of expanding its business in Asia.

The Scottish Premier League and BBC Scotland have signed a deal to allow supporters worldwide to hear live internet broadcasts of every league game next season.

The United States Congress has called on former greats of the NCAA sports scene to endorse efforts to outlaw gambling on college sports.

Asiacontent.com, SportsLine.com, and Sports.com have combined forces to bring premium internet and wireless sports results, news and e-commerce services to Asian audiences.

Orad Hi-Tec Systems? ?Virtual Swimming World Record Line? was used for the first time during Nine Network?s live coverage of the Sydney Olympic 2000 qualifying swimming trials.

Octagon, the global sports and marketing group, has taken a substantial equity position in one of Germany?s most famous clubs.

Extreme International have signed a long-term extreme sports content supply deal with Italian cable operator Stream.

Italian cycling teams have threatened a revolt if the Giro d'Italia organisation did not involve them financially and promotionally in its affairs.

ISL Worldwide is to buy up all outdoor media sites surrounding the venues staging soccer?s Euro 2000 in a bid to thwart any plans of ambush marketing.

British Sky Broadcasting has posted its fourth quarterly loss in a row. Unveiling its third quarter results, BSkyB said it slipped into a pre-tax loss of 28.4 million pounds from a profit of 16 million due to heavy subscriber acquisition costs which helped lift digital sales to 3.4 million customers.

English soccer?s Premier League clubs earned record revenues during 1998/99 but saw profits slump by more than a half.

International Management Group (IMG) is planning to extend its internet presence in Australia, reports Australasian Business Intelligence. Via its wholly-owned subsidiary TWI Interactive, the company has targeted a number of internet-based site opportunities, mostly on a revenue-sharing basis.

LOS ANGELES: Andrew Gellatly, SportBusiness.com new media editor, reports from the Interactive Sports 2000 conference.

More than half of Italian soccer fans say that commercialisation is behind the downturn in fortunes experienced by their country's football teams.