Media

X-Dream International has announced it is to change its name to Extreme International Ltd and revealed the formation of a new holding company.

Cable company, NTL, plans to acquire a 9.9% stake in Premier League Middlesbrough F.C according to the Guardian newspaper.

Littlewoods, the UK leisure and retail group, has launched an online gaming and betting site. Bet247 will offer betting on traditional horse racing and other sports, as well as the football pools. It will also take bets on statistics in a tie-up with Sky Sports.

Prisma Sports & Media has launched a joint venture with The Fantastic Corporation to deliver sports content to mobile phones in a move which, they say, will change the sports environment forever.

Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour has predicted victory for South Africa in the fight to stage the 2006 World Cup finals, claiming: "We have 98 percent of the bid approval in the bag."

Australian broadcaster the Seven Network Ltd has said its pay-TV unit C7 is to take a stake in digital broadband services provider Access1 Ltd as part of a content alliance.

Quokka Sports, a provider of online sports entertainment, has launched The Quokka Sports Affiliate Programme. The programme is intended to increase the reach of the Quokka Sports Network and extend the Quokka brand to new audiences. It is also designed to drive sales to Quokka's online stores.

The future of the British Open squash championships, which came near being abandoned more than once in the last few years because of the scarcity of sponsors, has been made secure by a deal between the Squash Rackets Association and Fablon Investments.

English Premier League club Arsenal looks set to be the next British football club in line to join forces with a media company, according to British newspaper reports.

Firststake.com has appointed the former general manager of Sportingbet.com, Peter Kyte, as its new senior operations manager of its new online betting service.

Major League Baseball star Ken Griffey Jr has signed a sponsorship deal with Pepsi-Cola ? just one week after Sammy Sosa signed terms with the fizzy drink giant.

The Indy Racing League (IRL) has become the first major motor sport to utilize virtual advertising in the national telecasts for their entire series.

Global Sports, the Internet company that develops and operates the online sporting goods business of leading retailers and Internet/media companies, has reported revenues for the fourth quarter and year ended January 1, 2000 of $5.5 million.

German industry sources have said media group EM.TV was close to completing a deal to obtain a majority stake in Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Administration Ltd.

Britain's first online lottery has been launched with a football theme and the backing of top soccer clubs, giving fans the opportunity to choose which club receives the proceeds from each game.

South Africa wants the 2006 soccer World Cup, deserves it and is more than ready to make it work, the country's newspapers declared on Thursday as a crucial FIFA inspection got underway in Johannesburg.