Singtel in Singapore have been awarded media rights for the 2012–15 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

Pay television operator Singtel will broadcast two live UEFA Champions League fixtures each matchnight on its channels Mio Sports 1 and Mio Sports 2, viagra as well as a highlights programme to be shown at prime time each matchweek on Mio Sports 1.

In terms of the UEFA Europa League, each matchweek Mio Sports 1 will broadcast one live game per kick-off slot and a highlights programme at prime time.

All rights have been granted on a platform-neutral basis, with the rights also being exploited on the internet as well as on mobile.

Michel Platini, sales the president of European soccer’s governing body UEFA, has said he would be happy to reschedule his continent’s club schedule to allow the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to be played in the winter.

Platini is considering the change as matches in the summer in Qatar would come under sweltering summer temperatures and would subsequently be unfair on players and spectators.

“We have to think about everybody, what would be better for the World Cup in Qatar,” Platini said in an interview with Al-Jazeera on Friday. “How you can bring the people and say you will go in June (to) Qatar when it’s 50 degrees?

“The people, they come (for) three weeks or two weeks with 60 degrees, they (would) never go outside the hotel. It (is) not correct.”

Not only would playing the World Cup in the winter involve moving the dates of the Champions League and Europa League — UEFA’s club competitions — it would also forced European leagues to change their schedules.

However, Platini said the World Cup “is the best moment in football.”

“I think we have to adapt (to) when is the best moment and where is the best moment to play this World Cup in Qatar,” the former French forward said.

Qatar beat the United States, Australia, Japan and South Korea for the right to stage the 2022 tournament and will become the smallest country to host the World Cup.

“For me, I voted for Qatar because I think it (is) nice to go to another part of the world, with people who never received the World Cup,” said Platini, who could succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA president in 2015. “They lost five times with Morocco, with Egypt. And I think it was nice to come to Russia in Europe (in 2018). They’ve never received (the World Cup) in the east of Europe.”

Mixed martial arts promotion, Super Fight League has brought in a broadcast partner along with a new brand ambassador. 

Neo Prime, the all sports channel from Neo Sports Broadcast stable, has entered into a long-term deal with SFL to promote the sport. The sports broadcaster will also televise newly launched Friday Fight Nights, which will kick-off 12 October.

The Friday Fight Night has been launched to provide fighters from India and the world a platform to showcase their skills. To be staged in a specially designed arena in Mumbai, the weekly fight nights will last three hours with weigh-ins, live fights, and interviews from Bollywood cage side guests.

The entry to the Friday Fight Nights will be on invitation basis and through contests on social media.

The first season of the SFL was broadcast on general entertainmentchannel Colors which had acquired the rights to the property as part of its experimentation with the sports entertainment concept.

SFL has also appointed Olympics bronze medal winning boxer Mary Kom as brand ambassador.

“We have invested more than Rs 25 crores (Rs 250 million) till now in the property and have earmarked Rs 100 crores (Rs 1 billion) for the venture,” SFL Founder Chairman Raj Kundra told reporters during a press conference to announce the fight night.

“The Friday Fight Night is an exciting proposition giving a right mix of sport and entertainment to audiences,” said Neo Sports Broadcast COO Prasana Krishnan.

SFL’s Friday Fight Night will also be available on SFL dedicated channel on YouTube as it seeks to expand its reach to global markets. The SFL promoters have also entered into strategic alliance with Invicta Fighting Championships to develop women’s MMA talent in India.

The BBC & Rugby Football League (RFL) have agreed a broadcast deal for live coverage of all four matches in the triangular tournament featuring England, France and Wales.

The announcement is a throwback to the days of BBC’s Grandstand programme, which regularly screened live coverage of Saturday afternoon rugby league before the arrival of satellite company Sky, whose Saturday evening kick-offs have been a feature of the recent Tri and Four Nations Series.

The Four Nations has gone into cold storage until after the 2013 World Cup and, with Sky declining to cover the triangular tournament, the BBC have stepped in to secure the rights.

The competition kicks off in the northern French city of Lens on Saturday, October 20 when France host Wales, before moving on to Wrexham on Saturday, October 27 (2.30pm) for Wales’ game against England.

Broadcaster Nelonen has been awarded 2012–15 UEFA Europa League media rights in Finland.

Nelonen will broadcast one live match per kick-off slot on Nelonen Pro 1 and Nelonen Pro 2, followed by a highlights programme on Nelonen Pro 1. The UEFA Europa League Final will be broadcast via one of Nelonen’s free-to-air channels.

All rights have been granted on a platform-neutral basis, with the rights also being exploited on the internet via www.nelonenpro.fi as well as on mobile.

The Premier League has revealed the Agent fees each club has paid annually with an overall increase and Manchester City spending the most at a staggering £9.663 million ($15.18m), 13% of the overall total.

Manchester City spent £2m ($3.1m) more than its nearest rival Tottenham who spent £7.57m ($11.9m) from Oct. 1, 2010, to Sept. 30, 2011, a period that covers two transfer windows. City’s total is close to three times the average spent per team — £3.6m ($5.7m).

The Abu Dhabi-owned club, which leads the Premier League by five points from defending champion Manchester United, bought players including Argentina forward Sergio Aguero, France midfielder Samir Nasri and Bosnia-Herzegovina striker Edin Dzeko.

It was a big increase on the £6 million ($9.2 million) City spent over the previous 12 months, but still less than the £12.9 million ($21.3 million) it shelled out from Oct. 1, 2008-Sept. 30, 2009.

Total spending by Premier League clubs was up 7 per cent on the 67.1 million (then $104.8 million) from the previous 12 months. There were 765 player transfers, 23 more than for the previous 12 months.

Liverpool was third with £7 million ($11 million), followed by Chelsea and Newcastle.

Manchester United was seventh with 4.5 million pounds ($7.1 million). Newly promoted Swansea spent the least with just £248,633 on fees.

The Eurosport Group and the International University Sports Federation (FISU) announce they have signed a six-year agreement, starting in September 2012.

This long-term partnership will give the Summer and Winter Universiades – FISU’s highly successful global multi-sport events – comprehensive television coverage on an international basis across Eurosport’s unrivalled pan-European network.

Eurosport will also produce a monthly TV show called CAMPUS dedicated to the World University Championship events and FISU’s global commitment to excellence in body and mind.

The multi-media partnership is completed with the creation of a dedicated university sports section on Eurosport.com which will include the latest results, sport news and videos about the World University Championships and Universiade events. This section will be launched initially in English and French by end of September 2012.

Eurosport has been the home of the Olympic Games and Olympic sports for over 20 years and will bring this knowledge and expertise of multi-sport events to showcase and promote the Universiades.

Eurosport and Eurosport 2 will broadcast 60 hours in HD for each Summer Universiade and 40 hours in HD for each Winter Universiade.

The Summer and Winter Universiades, held every two years, gather student athletes aged 17-28 and are second only to the Olympic Games in terms of number of participating athletes and countries represented.

The Universiades have proven to showcase future stars who have gone on to perform at World Championship and Olympic level. As an example Australian swimmer Cate Campbell, a Gold medal winner in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2011 Universiade, became Olympic Champion at the same event in the London 2012 Games.

The deal with FISU includes TV broadcast in Europe of- the 27th, 28th and 29th Summer Universiades, held in Kazan, Russia on 6-17 July 2013, Gwanju, Korea on 3-14 July 2015 and Taipei, Chinese Taipei on 19-30 August 2017.

The 26th, 27th and 28th Winter Universiades, taking place in Trentino, Italy on 11-21 December 2013, Granada, Spain in 2015 and Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2017.

CAMPUS will be a 26-minute TV show, broadcast on a monthly basis until December 2017. 

The programme will cover the World University Championships, organised by FISU and follow preparations for the Universiades, feature profiles and interviews with the Universiade athletes and explain FISU’s values and university spirit.

CAMPUS goes on air for the first time on Eurosport on 26 September at 21:00 CET. It will include a special focus on the FISU Gala in Kazan on 22 September.

FISU President Claude-Louis Gallien commented: “I am extremely pleased that FISU has signed a multi-year partnership with Eurosport for our upcoming events. Like FISU, which strives for Excellence on the academic campus and on the sports field, Eurosport has been pursuing excellence in bringing the major international sports events in the homes of many sports fans. I am confident that with the help of Eurosport the International University Sport Movement will continue to grow in popularity worldwide.”

Laurent-Eric Le Lay, Eurosport Chairman & CEO said: “We are delighted to have this opportunity to bring Eurosport’s unrivalled expertise and multi-media credentials to this long-term partnership with FISU, which will enable fans to follow the upcoming athletes of the future. We are committed to being the first to showcase the best young rising stars in sport as we do with football for example with the NextGen Series and other international youth competitions. We are looking forward to developing a strong relationship with FISU which will give a platform to its highly respected events, commercial partners and key messages. Eurosport is committed to ensuring action from the Universiades and its associated events are accessible to sports fans across Europe.”

Great Sports Media, cialis a subsidiary of Shanghai Media Group in China has acquired media rights to the UEFA Europa League between 2012-15.

Each matchweek, see one live match and a highlights programme will be broadcast on Great Sports, BesTV and Power Sports.

In addition, Great Sports will sublicense each matchweek one live match and a highlights programme to free-to-air regional channels Guangzhou TV, Shenzhen TV, Jiangsu TV, and CSPN.

All rights will be exploited on the internet via www.funshion.com/greatsports, as well as on mobile.

European Club Association (ECA) vice-chairman Umberto Gandini is looking to increase the pressure on FIFA to reduce international fixtures in the international calendar by imploring non-European clubs and continental federations to supports the cause.

Two months ago the ECA, stuff which represents 201 of Europe’s top clubs, impotent met for its annual congress and decided that the number of international matches for which their players are released should be cut by a third. A memorandum of understanding with FIFA and UEFA expires in 2014 which if not extended means clubs will no longer have to release players for international friendly matches or tournaments.

Gandini said at the Soccerex Global Convention 2011 in Rio de Janeiro: “I’ve been around at AC Milan for 20 years now and we’ve always been discussing the same concept. If we get bigger support from the other clubs and the other confederations then we will have a bigger voice. The big problem is that the only representation body for the clubs is the ECA, and they are within UEFA. I don’t think there’s an interest from CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) or CONMEBOL (South American Football Confederation) to have the same arrangements. That’s the problem we are facing.”

Gandini, who also serves as organising director of AC Milan, added: “The worst scenario is that we stay with the status quo. No-one wants to take players away from their national teams but it has to be recognised that the day-to-day operations of football players are run by clubs.”

Join our discussion Too many international fixtures? to explain your views on the topic.

NFL Network have reached multi-year agreements with Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, illness the country’s respective second- and sixth-largest cable providers, for carriage of NFL Network and the NFL RedZone channel. 

NFL Network and NFL RedZone will debut in Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks homes beginning this Sunday September 23, with full launch before Thursday, September 27.

“We’re delighted to have reached an agreement for NFL Network and NFL RedZone that provides a good value to our customers,” said Melinda Witmer, Executive Vice President and Chief Video and Content Officer for Time Warner Cable. “The additional games this year and the proven appeal of NFL RedZone will certainly prove to be a draw for our customers. We look forward to a long and productive relationship with the NFL.”

“We thank our customers for their patience while a fair deal was reached for all involved,” said Steve Miron, CEO, Bright House Networks. “It is especially rewarding to say yes to our customers who have requested NFL Network’s award-winning coverage.”

“We are excited to work with Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks to bring fans football 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” said NFL Network President and CEO Steve Bornstein. “Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks subscribers will be able to enjoy our weekly Thursday Night Football schedule, our award-winning Sunday NFL GameDayshows, NFL Total Access, NFL Films programming and much more. In addition, the NFL RedZone channel is a truly exciting way to enhance your Sunday football viewing experience each and every week.”

Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks are major cable providers in the home markets for 12 NFL teams (Buffalo, Carolina, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Green Bay, Indianapolis, Kansas City, New York Giants, New York Jets, San Diego and Tampa Bay). For Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, NFL Network will be available on the Digital Basic and Sports Pass tiers, and NFL RedZone will be available to Sports Pass customers.

NFL Network is the home of Thursday Night Football — 13 primetime NFL regular season games from September through December — and is the destination for all that happens around the sport of football. NFL Network airs seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and provides viewers with more than 2,500 hours per year of original programming, including:NFL Total Access, NFL GameDay, the new four-hour NFL AM weekday morning show, Top 10, Playbook, NFL Replay, NFL Classic Games plus the Emmy award-winning Sound FXand America’s Game.

NFL Network also features every NFL preseason game, the Senior Bowl, plus more coverage of the NFL Draft, Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremony, NFL Scouting Combine and Super Bowl than anyone else.