Media

The Indian cricket team have secured a record sponsorship contract for the next three years. The deal with the Sahara Group - which has interests in airlines and media - will guarantee the Indian cricket board 690m ($14.7m) to 720m ($15.3m) rupees.

Lawrence Wong, the chief executive of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, has called for betting duty to be scrapped in what he regards would be the “ultimate solution” to the severe competition coming from on-line gambling sites.

Sport featured strongly with US television audiences last month, making up 16 of the top 20 shows broadcast on US cable channels in May.

Betting duty could come back to the UK, just three months after the chancellor Gordon Brown said he would get rid of the nine per cent tax on gamblers to encourage bookmakers to close their tax-free betting operations overseas.

Gaming Insight, the parent company of Gobarkingmad, the live 24-hour greyhound racing digital television channel where punters can see a race every five to eight minutes, has signed a five-year deal with betting company Victor Chandler to provide 140,000 Chandler account holders with a direct link to www.gobarkingmad.com.

Kate Hoey, the UK’s sports minister, has denied reports that the department of culture, media and sport (DCMS) is to be broken up after Britain’s general election on Thursday.

Digital Sport, the international sports and media company which owns pan-European soccer news website onefootball.com, has bought sports agency Icon Management Solutions, in a cash and shares deal. The acquisition is part of Digital’s move to become a broad-based sports management and media group.

Vivendi Universal is considering selling its 22.74 per cent stake in BSkyB on the stock market, in a move that would seem certain to create a rift with Rupert Murdoch whose News Corporation holds a controlling 37.5 per cent shareholding in the UK satellite platform.

India's professional golf tour has no plans to hand the commercial rights for the coming season to a fresh bidder, the Indian Professional Golfers' Association (PGAI) said on Monday.

US software powerhouse Microsoft Corp takes aim at the couch potato market this week with the high-stakes launch of its top interactive TV product on a Portuguese cable network.

US broadcasters, Turner Network Television (TNT) and NBC have sold 11 of the title sponsorship entitlements for their joint coverage of the 20 NASCAR Winston Cup races.

The cost of servicing a debt of £4.5 billion ($6.3 billion) helped Telewest Communications, the UK’s second largest cable company after NTL, report a widening of losses to £209m ($294.4m) from £137m ($193m) for the three months to March 31.

The British and Irish Lions Tour of Australia will make its U.S. television network debut on Fox Sports World beginning with the June 8 match against Western Australia.

FAST Web Media, the creators of the EPLSoccer.com search engine, have launched a new site – Megasoccer.com - a soccer search engine with video news, features and data containing information on 45 countries, from over 80 leagues and over 1000 teams.

A Nigerian government delegation, led by Minister for Sport and President of Africa’s Supreme Council in Sports, Ishaya Mark Aku, is meeting this week with international agencies to invite bids for the commercial exploitation of the 2003 All-Africa Games.

A string of companies who are either suppliers of soccer equipment or soccer sponsors, are failing to refer to their link with the game on their web sites, according to research carried out by FAST Web Media, the company behind fapremier.com.