Media

European Union leaders are ready this week to recognise that sport enjoys a special status in the bloc, but will fall short of granting it any exceptions from EU law.

Soccer players in Singapore may face lie-detector tests next year as the local league battles to stamp out match-fixing and restore the confidence of bettors.

EM.TV & Merchandising is set to cut its forecast for 2000 earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) - originally set at 600 million marks - by several hundred million marks.

Private German media giant Kirch Group is in talks to acquire a majority stake in EM.TV & Merchandising AG, the Munich-based firm, industry sources said on Tuesday.

Chairman Mao Zedong will share the spotlight with beach volleyball if the 2008 Olympics come to Beijing.

China is contemplating throwing Tiananmen Square - mostly known to the outside world for the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators - into its 2008 Olympic bid as the venue for beach volleyball.

AIM-listed sports media advisory firm Media Content is to open a new office in Hong Kong.

Sportsworld Media Group, the sports TV production, sponsorship and event marketing company, has acquired Infinite Management Solutions Ltd. (IMS) for A$850,000 ($442,000 ), of which A$450,000 ($234,000) will be paid in Sportsworld shares.

UK commercial radio station talkSPORT has made moved into the online merchandise market with an internet Christmas gift store.

The IOC has announced a roster of over 40 industry leaders from sport and new media to speak at ?The IOC World Conference on Sport and New Media? taking place in Lausanne, Switzerland, December 4 and 5.

Channel 4 has made a joint submission with BSkyB and Arena for the rights to televise British horseracing. The bid is worth a projected #750m over 10 years.

The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has reported finding eight first and second division soccer players guilty of match-fixing.

The NBA is set to launch a new interactive talk show ? set to be streamed live on to its web site.

ESPN Inc., Globosat Programmadora Ltda., and Fox Sports International have reached an agreement to create a new 24-hour total sports network serving Brazil.

Sport Business columnist Patrick Harverson has been appointed as the new director of communications of Manchester United.

Michael Schumacher's third Formula One title, secured last weekend at the Japanese Grand Prix, should add around 30 million German marks ($13.37 million) to the driver's already huge yearly income.