Kickboxing promotion GLORY Sports International (GSI) has acquired the rights to the significant majority of K-1 programming.

This new acquisition brings the total number of kickboxing programming hours under GSI’s control to nearly 3,000.

GSI is a content producer itself, providing programming to over 170 territories. GSI recently secured a major television distribution deal in the United States with SPIKE TV (a unit of Viacom), with the first event set to premiere on Saturday, October 12, 2013; Glory 11 Chicago will be LIVE in prime time from Hoffman Estates’ Sears Centre at 9 pm Eastern Time.

Scott Rudmann, non-executive Director of GLORY, said, “We are delighted to have successfully acquired the Fuji TV portion of the K-1 catalog and to bring most of the historic K-1 footage into the GLORY library.” 

Specifically, GLORY has acquired these rights from the bankruptcy of FEG, the former K-1 promoter in Japan. The rights package comprises the K-1 events that were broadcast by Fuji TV in Japan, and includes the K-1 Grand Prix Finals from locations all over the world dating from 1993 – 2006 and beyond.

The K-1 footage complements GLORY’s existing library, which includes the catalogs for It’s Showtime, Nikko, United Glory and GLORY-produced programming and live events. These historical bouts are now all under the GLORY brand umbrella.

Andrew Whitaker, Chief Executive, GLORY Sports International, added, “With the coming debut of GLORY programming on SPIKE TV and national US television exposure, fight fans will soon see why GLORY is the hottest new story in combat sports.”

Sebastian Coe will become the new British Olympic Association chairman after the only other candidate withdrew.

Richard Leman, the head of British hockey, had faced an almost impossible task against Lord Coe, who was always favourite after the stunning success of the London 2012 Games.

It means Coe will be elected unopposed on November 7 to succeed Lord Moynihan at the helm of the BOA.

Leman, an Olympic gold medal-winner in the men’s hockey in Seoul 1988, canvassed opinion and was advised to withdraw rather than go up against Coe.

Leman said: “Recognising the unique circumstance in which we find ourselves in having the person who led the organisation and delivery of what is widely regarded as the most successful Olympic and Paralympic Games in history standing for election as our next chair, I have decided to put my full support behind Seb Coe and his candidacy.

“The opportunities and challenges we face during the next four years are unprecedented, and from my position as a member of board of directors, I will continue to work closely with our next chair, my colleagues on the board, the national Olympic committee and our staff to meet those challenges.

“Having had the opportunity to compete for Team GB at the Olympic Games, I have always viewed my service to the BOA as an opportunity to give something back to British sport by making certain subsequent generations of athletes benefit from the same life-changing experiences I enjoyed.”

Ghanaian TV network Viasat1 has acquired the broadcast rights to the Barclays Premier League for the remainder of the season.

As part of the deal, medstore the Modern Times Group company will show one game each week as well as a highlights show from the rest of the league with the coverage beginning at the weekend.

The network have been sublicensed rights to the league from SuperSport which bought the rights to show the Barclays Premier League across South Africa, pills Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa until 2015/2016.

“We want to give our viewers the best – and we have now decided to reclaim the ‘best of football’,” said Charlotte Gustavsson, Chief executive of Viasat1.

“We have really missed football this past year since we lost Champions League. Football is after all, the number one sport in the world.”

The FA Council have rejected David Bernstein in his bid to remain Chairman of the English soccer governing body beyond his 70th birthday.

Bernstein has been viewed as a force for good since he replaced Lord Triesman in December 2010, taking the bold decision to axe John Terry as England skipper as well as launching a new players’ code of conduct earlier this week. 

Yet he still has not managed to get the FA Council to amend their statutes to allow him to continue in his job beyond next spring.

“I respect the decision and I remain committed to fulfilling my responsibilities and to building on what we have achieved over the past two years,” said Bernstein.

“Next year is a significant one in the FA’s history and I look forward to leading the organisation in the months ahead.”

The news will be greeted with dismay by senior figures at Wembley. Bernstein has worked closely with fellow Club England board members Alex Horne, Sir Trevor Brooking and Adrian Bevington to streamline the organisation of the England team and improve relations with FIFA in the wake of the abysmal World Cup bid episode.

Although he proved he was not scared of the world governing body, leading the calls for FIFA reform and calling for the presidential election to be cancelled, Bernstein has won admirers for his sensible approach to the job.

He remained defiant in his dealings with the issue of Terry’s captaincy, even though it put him in direct confrontation with Fabio Capello, who subsequently resigned.

Now Bernstein will be forced to leave in the middle of the FA’s 150th anniversary celebrations, which seems a bizarre situation for the governing body to find themselves in.

It is also a significant snub for the FA Board, who hoped they held enough influence within the organisation to sway today’s vote.

“The Board had asked the chairman to continue beyond next May until summer 2014 and it subsequently put forward the proposal to today’s FA Council meeting,” read an FA statement.

“Despite strong support for the chairman’s ongoing leadership, in a close vote the Council voted against the amendment on the basis that it would be inappropriate to change known and agreed rules on an individual basis.”

medic sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;”>look sans-serif;”>Mission Hills China, the biggest golf club in the world, will host the inaugural Golf Management Asia Conference, organised by Informa Sports Group, from 6-8 November, immediately following the WGC-HSBC Champions Tournament.

The conference programme will address the major challenges encountered by golf club management teams across Asia and will gather high level directors, course managers, designers, club owners, presidents of golf associations and tourism authorities to advance practices and shape the future of the game in the region.

“We are delighted to partner with Mission Hills to hold this inaugural conference dedicated to highlight golf clubs management main issues in the region and exchange on how to overcome them” commented Jules Hudry-Prodon, Conference Director for Informa Sports Group. “It will be a unique occasion for our delegates to hear from experienced leaders in the industry within a fantastic location which is internationally renowned.”

Golf operators from across Asia will gather at Mission Hills in November to learn from international and regional experts of the industry among whom include Gordon Moir, Director of Greenkeeping of the famous St Andrews Links, “Home of Golf”, Jon Tomlinson, General Director of the Montgomerie Links Danang in Vietnam, Ken Siems, General Manager of Jinhai Lake Golf Club in China, Peter Frewin, General Manager of the Australian Golf Course Superintendents Association and many more.

Participants will discuss the challenges faced with member retention, player attraction, course maintenance, cost reduction and operation optimisation.

A discovery tour of Mission Hills’ facilities and a delegate tournament will be organised in addition to the 2 days of conference to maximise networking opportunities.

Golf Management Asia will take place on 6-8 November.

 

Please visit www.golfmanagementasia.com for further information.

Australian channel Network Ten has acquired the TV broadcast rights for the Karbonn Smart Champions League Twenty20 cricket competition for 2013.

The tournament is designed to bring together the best of the best in domestic twenty20 teams around the world for the chance of winning a lucrative cash bonus at the end. The format includes three direct entrants from the Indian Premier League, allergy two from Australia’s Big Bash League, abortion and three from Twenty20 tournaments in the West Indies, with qualifying teams eligible for tournaments in New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Ten will broadcast all 23 matches of the tournament.

Network Ten Head of Sport, David Barham, said in a statement the coverage further cements Ten’s commitment to cricket.

“We look forward to helping grow T20 cricket by showing games live and on free-to-air televisions for all Australians to enjoy,” he said.

English Championship team, Derby County, have announced their losses have continued to spiral with an almost £8million loss revealed for the last financial year but CEO Sam Rush believes they can turn around their fortunes.

The club’s latest accounts show that their debt now stands at around £34million, which includes the £15million mortgage on Pride Park.

The net loss for the year ending June 2012 was £7.9million, slightly up on the £7.7million for the previous 12 months.

The club’s turnover was £17.3million, down from £18.1million the year before, while operating costs were reduced from £17.6million to £17.3million.

Despite the figures, Derby remain confident they are on the right course and insist the ownership group will continue to bankroll the club because they believe in the work being done by manager Nigel Clough.

Chief executive Rush said: “Although the figures relate to a time prior to my arrival at the club, they do offer evidence of one of the key factors that attracted me to Derby County.

“We have a strong ownership group who continue to be the single biggest source of finance. The simple truth is that somebody has to cover our working capital needs, as well as make continued investments in our squad and wider infrastructure.

“The ownership group’s strength offers the club that much-needed financial stability. We aim to be both successful and sustainable. Increasingly, clubs won’t be able to gamble their futures as they have in the past, and this can only be good for the long-term health of the game.

“I and the rest of the board aim for Derby County to be successful and challenging for promotion, and we will do this the right way, through hard work and continued improvement.

“This stability and ethos runs right through the club and this year we have all seen further development on the field. Nigel Clough has created a young and exciting team that people are talking about in a very positive and complementary way.”

British Telecom’s (BT) new sports channel has a new head to lead the launch after former CEO of boxing promoter Frank Warren’s BoxNation, Simon Green was appointed to the role.

Simon Green will start work as the head of the new BT Sports Channel from November 1 reporting to BT Vision CEO Marc Watson.

Green has 20 years experience in sport broadcasting including spells with The Football Association, Setanta and the Ukrainian Football Channel. He is currently head of BoxNation, a boxing channel that launched in September on Sky and Virgin Media.

BT intends to launch its new sports channel on Sky as well, adopting the same model Setanta Sports used several years ago whereby Sky carries the channel but subscribers deal directly with the owner.

ESPN, the current secondary broadcaster of Premier League games uses a model whereby subscribers buy the channel directly from Sky who then pay ESPN.

Negotiations over this, and a wholesale agreement with Virgin Media, where they sell the channel onto customers, are ongoing.

BT announced its arrival on the live sport scene in the UK with a bang earlier this year when it agreed a three-year deal to pay £246m ($398m) a season for 38 live Premier League football games, including several ‘first picks’ which will enable it to screen the best game of the weekend ahead of the league’s main broadcaster Sky Sports.

It has also paid £152m for live Rugby Union rights over three years in a controversial deal that has split the sport’s main European competition.

The move into live sports broadcasting is designed to boost BT’s triple-play customer base – that is subscribers who take TV, phone and broadband from a single supplier. BT believes this gives it the edge over other companies that have previously tried to take on Sky’s stranglehold on live sport in the UK and failed.