Commercial free-to-air broadcaster SIC has been granted Europa League rights in Portugal until 2015.

SIC will broadcast the best live game each matchweek. A highlights programme of the matchnight’s action will follow SIC’s live transmission.

All rights have been granted on a platform-neutral basis with the rights being exploited on television, on the internet and on mobile.

This announcement concludes the sale of the 2012–15 UEFA Europa League media rights in Portugal, SporTV having previously acquired the remaining matches and highlights.

Russian billionaire and 27 per cent shareholder in English Premier League soccer club Alisher Usmanov says he will not sell his Arsenal shares after fellow shareholder Stan Kroenke triggered a mandatory buyout offer.

Kroenke increased his stake in the club earlier this week to nearly 63 per cent having bought Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith’s 15.9 per cent stake along with Danny Fiszman’s 16.1 per cent, who sadly passed away yesterday.

Doing so meant that he was forced to make an offer for the remaining shares under UK law but Usmanov told Bloomberg: “I’m not going to sell my stake.

“I love Arsenal, that’s why I’m a shareholder.”

A spokesperson for the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust (AST) welcomed Usmanov’s stance, stating: “AST welcomes Red and White Holdings’ [Usmanov’s investment company] commitment to Arsenal and calls on all shareholders to work together.

“Their priorities should firstly be making Arsenal a successful football team, secondly placing no leveraged debt on the club or taking dividends and management fees out of the club, and thirdly helping supporters be directly involved in the club’s shareholding.”

When news broke that Kroenke had become the majority shareholder, BBC business reporter Robert Peston reported that he had been told Usmanov was “hopping mad” and felt he had been “stitched up” by Arsenal.

Russian billionaire Usmanov bought into Arsenal in August 2007, when he paid former vice-chairman David Dein about £75m (US$122.4m) for his 14.65 per cent stake and in December 2009, Usmanov increased his interest to just over 26 per cent.

The supporters trust has already indicated it will not sell its shares, adding: “Arsenal is too important to be owned by any one man.”

The ATP announced today a two-year extension to their Barclays ATP World Tour Finals broadcast agreement with the BBC.

The new deal will see the BBC broadcast the next two editions of the event at The O2 in London in November 2012 and 2013.

The BBC will broadcast one live match every day of the tournament including the opening match, one semi-final and the final. The BBC iPlayer will offer all BBC broadcast matches. 

Brad Drewett, ATP Executive President & Chairman, said: “We’re very happy to continue our partnership with the BBC for a further two years. This agreement provides a fantastic platform for showcasing our jewel event to millions of people on terrestrial television in the UK. We look forward to the best players in the world putting on another fantastic show for fans worldwide.”

The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals is the year-end culmination to the men’s professional tennis season, featuring only the world’s best eight singles players and doubles teams. Featuring a unique round robin format, and with only the world’s elite players competing, the season-ending tournament guarantees more top eight match-ups than any other event throughout the season. In 2011, Roger Federer captured the season-ending title for a record sixth time. More than 250,000 fans have attended the tournament in each of the past three years.

Barbara Slater, BBC Director Sport, said: “The tournament is a prestigious and fitting finale to the season and we’re delighted that BBC viewers will continue to be able to see top quality tennis as the world’s best players compete in London.” 

The BBC first broadcast the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in 2009 when the event moved from Shanghai to London. This year’s tournament takes place from 5-12 November.

Thomas Di Benedetto has confirmed that his consortium has sealed a deal to take over Italian Serie A soccer club AS Roma, subject to regulatory approval.

The new ownership group is split between American Di Benedetto’s investors, who own 60 per cent, while the remaining 40 per cent is owned by Italian bank UniCredit, and has acquired a 67 per cent stake of Roma for Eur70.3m (US$100.7m).

Di Benedetto’s group will be obliged to make an offer to purchase the remaining 33 per cent of the club having bought Italpetroli’s stake in the club which has been heavily indebted for several years, and the takeover marks the end of a lengthy ownership saga.

Di Benedetto spoke at a news conference in Boston, stating: “The deal is done…good things don’t come easy. I never felt that I would give up on the quest for this team.”

In referring to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s ownership of AC Milan, Di Benedetto added: “Our hope and our objective is to be as successful in Rome as Mr Berlusconi was with his team in Milan.”

Di Benedetto has been a partner of New England Sports Ventures, which owns the Boston Red Sox Major League Baseball team and English Premier League side Liverpool.

Di Benedetto added that he would like more players from the local region surrounding Rome to play for the club: “If you look around professional soccer today, there are a number of players who grew up in greater Rome. It’s our goal to have more of them playing for AS Roma. I think we will put in place the people who will make it attractive for these young men to sign with us.”

The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) have agreed a production and distribution services agreement with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship season.

Under the contract, the EBU’s production subsidiary EPC (Eurovision Production Coordination) will continue to film and produce the season’s programming entirely in HD, while the EBU will provide distribution services to a global audience.

Since forming a relationship with the FIA in March this year, the EBU has successfully secured consistent and efficient worldwide distribution of the FIA World Rally Championship, notably by drawing on its solid links with its Members, but also by engaging with other broadcasters.

In addition to renewing agreements with previous broadcast partners, the EBU has been able to add prestigious new networks to the WRC portfolio, including among others, RAI in Italy, TVE in Spain and SVT in Sweden, ensuring comprehensive worldwide coverage to viewers in 120 countries.

The EBU’s ‘BEST’ streaming solutions will also provide online video services to WRC.com, the official website of the FIA World Rally Championship. With more than 50 million page views since the beginning of 2012, an increase of 15% compared to a similar period last year, WRC.com is confirming its position as one of the world’s leading motorsport websites.

Russian billionaire and 27 per cent shareholder in English Premier League soccer club Alisher Usmanov says he will not sell his Arsenal shares after fellow shareholder Stan Kroenke triggered a mandatory buyout offer.

Kroenke increased his stake in the club earlier this week to nearly 63 per cent having bought Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith’s 15.9 per cent stake along with Danny Fiszman’s 16.1 per cent, who sadly passed away yesterday.

Doing so meant that he was forced to make an offer for the remaining shares under UK law but Usmanov told Bloomberg: “I’m not going to sell my stake.

“I love Arsenal, that’s why I’m a shareholder.”

A spokesperson for the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust (AST) welcomed Usmanov’s stance, stating: “AST welcomes Red and White Holdings’ [Usmanov’s investment company] commitment to Arsenal and calls on all shareholders to work together.

“Their priorities should firstly be making Arsenal a successful football team, secondly placing no leveraged debt on the club or taking dividends and management fees out of the club, and thirdly helping supporters be directly involved in the club’s shareholding.”

When news broke that Kroenke had become the majority shareholder, BBC business reporter Robert Peston reported that he had been told Usmanov was “hopping mad” and felt he had been “stitched up” by Arsenal.

Russian billionaire Usmanov bought into Arsenal in August 2007, when he paid former vice-chairman David Dein about £75m (US$122.4m) for his 14.65 per cent stake and in December 2009, Usmanov increased his interest to just over 26 per cent.

The supporters trust has already indicated it will not sell its shares, adding: “Arsenal is too important to be owned by any one man.”

Sunset+Vine Global Television has today been announced as the host broadcaster for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Australian located Global Television will be broadcasting the Commonwealth Games for the third time in a row and will collaborate with London based Sunset+Vine to form SVGTC, creating 1000 jobs in the process.

A partnership will also be formed with colleges and universities to produce an education and training course which will incorporate creative and technology skills with an anticipated 120 students set to start a broadcast career during the Glasgow games.

Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland, declared that the selection of the host broadcaster was the biggest contract of the Glasgow 2014 games; broadcasting the event to a possible one billion viewers.

“It will not only mean an enormous contribution towards the successful delivery of the Games, but will give a huge boost to Scotland’s creative industries,” Salmond explained.

“The positive legacy that Sunset+Vine and Global Television will leave behind is also pivotal. At least 120 graduates from Scotland will work with them during the Games, creating a talent pool that I know will be highly sought-after when Scotland hosts other sporting events in years to come – not least of which will be the 2014 Ryder Cup,” he added.

The Japanese Football Association (JFA) has announced a u-turn in its original decision to withdraw its national team from the Copa America 2011, having been crowned AFC Champions earlier in the year, in the aftermath of a massive earthquake and tsunami.

The disasters on 11 March severely damaged a nuclear power plant in the country’s north-east, causing widespread electricity cuts that forced the temporary suspension of the country’s elite soccer competition J.League.

However a statement released by FIFA confirmed that JFA vice-president Kozo Tashima had told a news conference: “We, as the Japan Football Association, reached the conclusion today that we will take part in the Copa America. We are preparing to send a letter to the South American Football Confederation about our participation.”

J.League clubs have said they are opposed to sending top players to the Copa America, which will run from 1 to 24 July in Argentina but the JFA decided at an executive meeting today that it would send a squad mostly made up of Europe-based players, who will be having a pre-season break at the time.

Bellator Fighting Championships today announced that the promotion has signed a new deal with mun2, which now will serve as the exclusive Spanish-language broadcast partner of the organization in the U.S.

The cable network, which aired 22 live events during Bellator’s second and third seasons, relaunches its Bellator programming on Friday with a taped airing of Bellator 60. The first live event of the new deal to air on the network will be Bellator 72, which takes place July 20 at USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Fla.

“Both Bellator and mun2 have experienced tremendous growth since our earlier alliance, so when the possibility of re-aligning with mun2 for anything/everything Bellator Spanish-language in the U.S., the move was a natural fit,” Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney stated. “Since our first event, Bellator has recognized and respected Hispanic consumers as some of the greatest MMA fans in the world, and this partnership ensures that audience will have a new spectacular home where it can watch Bellator live and ‘best of’ on a weekly basis.”

mun2, which launched in 1993 as GEMS Television and was renamed/relaunched in 2001, is part of the Telemundo Communications Group. Billed as the “leading Hispanic cable network for young millennial adults 18-34,” mun2 currently reaches 38 million homes. 

“We’re all very excited to have Bellator return to mun2,” mun2 exec Flavio Morales stated. “mun2 is all about bringing Latinos their stars, music and sports. There is no question Latinos love MMA, and we are glad to make mun2 the home for Bellator once again.”

Following the conclusion of Bellator’s first deal with mun2, the promotion partnered with MTV’s Tr3s channel in time for the company’s fourth season. That move coincided with the company’s English-language broadcasts moving from FOX Sports Net to MTV2.

Bellator’s first season aired in Spanish on ESPN Deportes.

It was announced yesterday, March 13, that former Arsenal board member, Danny Fiszman had died aged 66, after a protracted battle with throat cancer.

Fiszman, who made his fortune as a diamond dealer, was best known for his crucial role at Arsenal soccer club, of whom he was a lifelong fan, and first joined the board in 1992.

He first acquired his original 8 per cent stake in the North London club from then vice-chairman David Dein and played an instrumental role in the side’s relocation from Highbury to Ashburton Grove, now known as the Emirates Stadium.

In 2007 he became the majority shareholder in the Premier League club, from which point he drove the move and construction of the fantastic 60,000 all-seater stadium despite Dein having been known to favour a switch to King’s Cross or the restored Wembley.

Having increased his stake in the club to a high of 33 per cent, he sold a block of 659 shares to American Stan Kroenke, the man to whom he relinquished his eventual 16 per cent shares just days before the tragic news of his death.

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood has described Danny as a “visionary director, gentleman and true Arsenal fan,” adding: “We are all deeply saddened by the loss of our dear friend Danny. His voice, wisdom and presence around the club he so dearly loved will be sorely missed.

“Arsenal will forever be indebted to Danny for his invaluable foresight and contribution during the move from Highbury to our new stadium.

“Our thoughts at this time are with Danny’s wife Sally, family and friends. We have lost a much-loved husband, father, grandfather and friend.”

iSportconnect advisory board member, Michael Cunnah added: “It was very sad to hear that Danny passed away yesterday. Danny was a driving force behind Arsenal and the move to the new stadium.

“Whenever I met him, usually at a game at Highbury and then The Emirates, Danny was very charming, always making time to welcome you to his Board room.”

From the entire team and membership at iSportconnect we send our whole-hearted condolences and best wishes to his family following this saddening news.