Media

Uli Hoeness, commercial manager of Germany's richest football club, Bayern Munich, has backed a decision by the German Football Association to allow pay-per-view broadcasts of Bundesliga soccer matches.

iCraveTV.com Inc. this week broadcast two National Football League playoff games, the second-highest rated football program after the Superbowl, despite a landmark lawsuit launched against the upstart web company last week by US TV and movie heavyweights, including the NFL.

News Digital Media, the interactive arm of News Corp., has acquired Stats Inc., a privately held supplier of sports scores, statistics and other analysis, according to a report in Variety magazine.

Rupert Murdoch's Fox Group has expanded its sports empire by pushing ahead with an agreement to take a stake in a new arena in Loa Angeles and options in the Los Angeles Lakers basketball and Kings hockey teams.

STAR Sports new pay channel service delivered record viewing figures for the Sharjah Cricket final, between India and Australia, broadcast on April 24th.

Television shops in soccer-mad Vietnam are gearing up for an expected bonanza during the upcoming World Cup in France that starts June 10.

Soccer's improving commercial image was under threat today after English soccer hooligans ran amok in Marseille on Sunday, battling Tunisians, police and local people in a series of running battles ahead of a World Cup match.

The UK government has removed England's home cricket international matches from the list of events that terrestrial television stations can cover freely.

AC Milan, the soccer club controlled by Italian media magnate Silvio Berlusconi, should be listed on the bourse by 2000, the club's vice president Adriano Galliani has announced.

The Goodwill Games are only half way to their ticket sales goal with the launch of the multi-sport extravaganza just four days away, but the top Games organiser is not concerned.

Canal+ has purchased the television rights to Premier League football in Scandinavia.

Packaged television sport for a global cable audience has ensured the immediate future of the Goodwill Games.

Till Lufft, general secretary of the European Athletic Association has declared the organisation `very pleased? with the level of sponsor support for the European Championships which start tomorrow.

Money spent on facilities for the 16th Commonwealth Games is not a waste especially when they will also be used for future events, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said.

The naming deal for Sydney's Olympic Stadium is expected to be worth more than $A30m.

Japan's Sony Corp has denied a newspaper report that said the electronics giant had offered 220 million pounds to buy English soccer club Newcastle United.