Media

Mega TV deals will boost the income of England's soccer teams to well over $1bn ($1.5 billion) this season but the windfall must not simply be poured into players' pockets, a report has warned.

Baseball club the Arizona Diamondbacks has recently borrowed $20m to meet operating expenses, according to media reports.

iN Demand, the US pay-per-view network, is to showcase its first-ever sports production this autumn with the debut of five Sanex WTA Tour tournaments.

Microcast will showcase its live streaming video technology when it powers the upcoming internet broadcast of the 1st and 18th holes from the World Golf Championships-NEC Invitational.

Olympic fever is hotting up in Beijing, with posters plastered around subway stations, advertisements in national newspapers and passionate pledges of support in state media by everyone from taxi drivers to government leaders, but it is not Sydney they are getting worked up about, this interest is triggered by Beijing?s bid to host the 2008 Games. See the `FEATURES? section of SportBusiness.com for the full story.

Univision Communications, the US-based Spanish-language media company, has acquired the exclusive U.S. Spanish-language television rights to broadcast the final tournaments of the FIFA World Cup in 2002 and 2006.

NBC/Quokka Ventures has signed a deal to use a new media player for its online coverage of this summer?s Olympic Games.

VPN Communications Corporation broadcast audio of the NFL "Monday Night Football" game on the internet last night.

Orad Hi-Tec Systems Ltd. has established OradNet Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Orad, dedicated to the development, marketing and commercialisation of immersive sports webcasting technologies.

The Extreme Sports Channel and Extreme.com are to be `golden? sponsors for this years Urban Beach International which takes place at the London Arena from the 11-15 August.

The Extreme Sports Channel has signed a deal with United Sport to broadcast Wake Up!

Belo Interactive has reached an agreement with eFANshop, a Dallas-based e-commerce company, to operate online sports stores at the web sites of Belo's television stations and newspapers.

Trans World International's senior international vice president production and business development, Alastair Waddington, is taking on more responsibility as TWI continues to expand.

Portugal?s most famous soccer clubs Benfica is to be rescued from near-bankruptcy in a 45 million euros (#27m) deal put together by Altium, the British merchant bank.

Glasgow Rangers chairman David Murray has revealed that the Ibrox club, along with rivals Celtic, have agreed in principle to join a new pan-European football league.

InMotion Technologies is to produce VideoFinish/SimulCam broadcast images for ZDF, the main German broadcaster for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.