Media

Sportech, the UK-based holding company for gaming giant Littlewoods Leisure, has signed a sponsorship deal with ITV?s interactive soccer coverage for an undisclosed sum.
How to Develop Effective Sponsorship Programmes: A new report from SportBusiness Group: Click here
Sport and Interactive TV: A new report from SportBusiness Group: Click here

Asian sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has finalised a deal with its Malaysian pay-TV platform Astro for exclusive coverage of English Premier League soccer for the next three seasons.
Pay Per View Sport in Europe: A new report from SportBusiness Group: Click here

Com.hem, the cable television division of Swedish firm Telia, is increasing its interactive services to include soccer-related initiatives.
Sport and Interactive TV: A new report from SportBusiness Group: Click here

The UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has confirmed to sportbusiness.com that it has received a letter from Prisma - the sports rights subsidiary of German media giant KirchGruppe ? demanding an investigation into the sale of television rights for the soccer World Cup.
How to Develop Effective Naming Rights Strategies: A new report from SportBusiness Group: Click here

ukbetting, the online bookmaker that made its debut on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) last week, has signed a deal with troubled sports internet company Sportal for an undisclosed sum.
Online Gambling: The Regulation of Global Sports Betting: A new report from SportBusiness Group: Click here

Premium TV, the sports rights and content internet and broadcast subsidiary wholly-owned by UK cable firm NTL, has launched Footee.net ? a soccer-based educational website.

Asia?s largest sports broadcaster, ESPN Star Sports is to repackage its Star Sports service, to create two dedicated feeds, Star Sports Southeast Asia and STAR Sports Asia.

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

Tom.com, the media and advertising company controlled by Hong Kong businessman Li Ka-Shing, has won the broadcast and advertising rights to China?s national basketball league, adding to its portfolio of Chinese volleyball, table tennis, rowing and college soccer rights.

The image of pay-per-view (PPV) sports television was tarnished today just weeks before the English Premier League launches its PPV soccer matches after PPV film and sport service u>direct abandoned its plans to broadcast tomorrow?s Intertoto Cup semi-final between Newcastle United and Munich 1860.
Pay Per View Sport in Europe: A new report from SportBusiness Group: Click here

A new digital sports channel to be launched by UK terrestrial broadcaster ITV helped secure the British coverage of the next two Rugby World Cups in a deal worth at least #40million ($57m/?65.14) to the International Rugby Board (IRB).

UK terrestrial broadcaster Channel 4 has told sportbusiness.com that it will not renew its contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) when the current deal expires at the end of the year due to increasing difficulties with editing the violent content.

Latin American pay-TV sports network PSN is to broadcast more than 100 matches from two of the region?s soccer tournaments ? the Copa Mercosur and the Copa Merconorte.

French media group Vivendi Universal has unveiled strong second-quarter revenue and earnings growth, bucking the current downturn in advertising spend.

The recommendations laid out in this week?s UK government-sponsored review on the gaming industry would not become effective for at least another five years, an independent report by an international broking firm predicts.

Investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DKW) has distributed a research note claiming that Manchester United plc has been the subject of bid speculation.