Media

Spanish language pay-TV operator Pan-American Sports Network (PSN) has announced that it has acquired the live rights to Mexican football for Latin America excluding Brazil.
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UK online gambling company Sportingbet.com has acquired SportsBook, a major US-focused internet sports bookmaker, for $51million (?58m).
Online Gambling: The Regulation of Global Sports Betting: A new report from SportBusiness Group: Click here

UK satellite TV operator BSkyB Plc says it is on track to reach positive cashflow by the end of 2001 after signing up 940,000 new subscribers in the financial year just ended, taking its total to 5.45 million.

England?s Institute of Football Management and Administration (IFMA) has a new chairman.

Harrah?s Entertainment, the world?s third biggest casino operator and sponsor of this week?s CART FedEx Championship series, blamed poor winnings at its Rio casino in Las Vegas and a drop in visitors to its casinos in northern Nevada for flat second earning figures.

The NASCAR Winston Cup series has continued to record impressive television ratings with the latest race at the new Chicagoland Speedway attracting an audience of 21 million.

ESPN has defended its decision to balk demands made by cable operators Charter Communications, saying that ESPN should restrict the amount of streamed video content the sports programmer puts out.

Michael Smith, chief executive of DirecTV parent company Hughes Electronics, has announced his immediate retirement after 16 years at the company. Smith?s decision removes a significant obstacle from Rupert Murdoch?s path in his quest to merge DirecTV with his own News Corporation, creating the first global satellite broadcasting network. The departing Hughes chief executive had publicly voiced his opposition to the proposed merger stating that Murdoch?s bid had been ?unimpressive?.

Teleglobe Broadcast Services have been selected by News Corps units Fox Digital and Fox Sports to provide digital video transmission of National Football League Europe games to North American viewers on Fox Sports, Fox Sports Net and DirectTV.

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

A lack of major sporting events in 2001 compared with last year could be contributing to a fall in advertising revenues for commercial radio and television companies, according to a report.

The world of squash is set to be revolutionised by the launch of a strategic partnership between the Professional Squash Association, and the international marketing and sports rights company, Eye Group in tandem with its investment arm Fablon Investments Ltd.

Italian Serie A soccer club Juventus has signed a new shirt sponsorship deal with the country?s broadband ISP FastNet for next season, replacing broadcaster Telepiu, whose deal was worth #5.5m ($7.79m) a year.

UK terrestrial broadcaster Channel 4 has continued its move towards mainstream sports by signing a TV and internet video rights deal for the Le Mans 24-hour motor race.

Racecourse and media group Arena Leisure Plc is raising #85m ($121m) in equity to help pay for its share of the multimedia rights to British horse racing won with the Go Racing consortium.

The British Horseracing Board (BHB) yesterday said it was dissatisfied with negotiations currently going on between the Go-Racing consortium and the country?s 59 racecourses about gaining media rights to broadcast horseracing matches for the next 10 years.