Media

Police have arrested 40 people for illegal soccer bookmaking after extensive raids across Hong Kong in the run up to the Champions League final this week.

Online betting shop Coral Eurobet has signed a deal with loss-making mobile entertainment company 12snap to allow punters to place bets using mobile phone text messaging services.

e-comsport Group plc, the Alternative Investment Market (AIM)-listed sports marketing business, has announced a loss for the year ended 31 December 2000 of #4.5m ($6.41m).

Utilities firm npower will not be renewing its second-tier sponsorship deal with the FA Premiership next season after the league demanded a minimum three-year commitment.

British online sports marketing firm e-comsport Group has signed a three-year contract with Italian Serie A football club Juventus for its skill-square game product.

The UK?s Rugby Football Union (RFU) has told sportbusiness.com a decision on whether the BBC or BSkyB would be awarded the broadcasting rights to England?s domestic and international rugby matches would not be made until next week.

Having significantly increased its portfolio of soccer content, UK cable network ONdigital has thrown down the gauntlet to rival broadcaster BSkyB by launching a significantly cheaper subscription package for bars and entertainment venues.

US-based Fox Cable Networks Group, a division of Rupert Murdoch?s News Corporation, has agreed a transfer of programming interests with rival cable firm Comcast. The deal will see Fox sell its stakes in the Golf Channel and the Outdoor Life Network (OLN) to Comcast in exchange for ownership of motor racing network Speedvision in which Fox currently holds a minority stake.

Eurosport and Premium TV, the sports rights and content subsidiary of NTL, have rebutted an article published in the business section of UK newspaper The Sunday Telegraph (20 May 2001) claiming that NTL is trying to sell its stake in British Eurosport.

Channel 4 Television has signed a one-year deal for UK terrestrial rights to French horseracing.

A conspiracy of silence has surrounded corruption in world cricket, the first report of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) anti-corruption unit has said.

Rival cable television broadcasters HBO and Showtime are negotiating to present a fight between former champions Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis.

The postponement of this year's FIFA World Club Championship in Spain could damage soccer?s credibility in Japan, according to the president of J. League club Jubilo Iwata.

The ever-increasing cost of sports rights is forcing potential bidders to look at new ways to raise money, according to broadcast analysts responding to the merger of RTL Group, Vivendi Universal and Groupe Jean-Claude Darmon.

MVi Total Sponsorship, the sponsorship division of global media communications giant CIA, is set for a major expansion programme into Europe.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has agreed a three-year extension to its current television contracts with terrestrial broadcaster Channel 4 and pay-TV channel Sky Sports.