Media

The Chinese national volleyball association has decided to loosen its grip on China?s volleyball clubs by offering them the opportunity to run their own league matches.

Sportsworld Media Group plc, the international sports media company, has formed a new company, SSM Sportsworld, to represent its European and Latin American interests.

There seems to be no end to the spell cast by Tiger Woods over television viewers, after his performance broke records again at the weekend.

UK sports advertising firm Metrosport has been appointed to handle advertising and sponsorship rights for the current UK tour of the Indian national soccer team.

Hussey Seating Company and Seiko Epsom Corp, the global technology company, are to co-develop `an interactive media seating solution? for the sports industry.

Cable firm NTL is negotiating with the BBC to use its Match of the Day format for its range of pay-per-view English Premier League soccer games.

Australian swimming star Ian Thorpe has outlined plans to halve the number of his personal sponsors after the Olympics, although each will be paying a premium for their association.

Sporting goods company Umbro is planning to launch a content and e-commerce website in September backed by a major advertising campaign.

Canadian Major League Baseball franchise, the Toronto Blue Jays, has become the subject of a $150million buy out offer from Rogers Communications, a Toronto- based cable company.

Sportal.co.uk is extending its offer of providing free SMS text results for the remainder of the Formula One season.

BBC director-general Greg Dyke is considering plans to use commercial outlets such as video-on-demand services to help revamp BBC sport, following a review of the division by acting director Richard Sambrook.

Major Japanese Internet investor Softbank Corp has affirmed that its affiliate will start an online sports news service in a joint venture with Rivals.com Inc, a U.S. operator of Internet sports news.

Foreign security forces accompanying athletes to the Sydney Olympics will not be allowed to carry guns to protect their delegations, according to Australian attorney-general Daryl Williams.

Formula1.com - the most popular web site covering the FIA Formula1 World Championship ? has formed a partnership with Betzone.com to provide a variety of betting propositions to Formula1 fans.

Motor sport's governing body, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, will not object to a reported plan by several carmakers to win a stake in Formula One's commercial rights.

The Premier League has appointed Philip French to succeed Mike Lee as its new chief spokesman and media manager.

Littlewoods Leisure are to launch a new #2million top prize football pools service, which viewers will be able to access via their ordinary television remote controls

German-American car maker DaimlerChrysler AG said it was not interested in buying a stake in Formula One holding company SLEC, denying reports earlier today.