Viasat, try the leading broadcaster for golf in Scandinavia, herbal will broadcast the Asian Tour for another three years after agreeing an extension until 2015.

The announcement means that approximately 4.3 million homes across Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia will be able to watch all the action from the Asian Tour.

Asian Tour Executive Chairman Kyi Hla Han said: “We are delighted to extend our partnership with Viasat, which is a major broadcaster of golf in the world.

“The Asian Tour has produced great champions from the Scandinavia nations in recent years through the likes of Rikard Karlberg of Sweden and Finland’s Joonas Granberg and golf fans from Scandinavia will be able to follow their progress closely through Viasat Golf.”

Viasat Golf will broadcast the live Asian Tour events, Highlights Show and Asian Tour Golf Show, with the Tour’s season-finale also being beamed live on TV 10 (terrestrial) as part of the new agreement in 2013.

The Asian Tour television platform currently reaches over 200 countries worldwide and 650 million homes.

The English Football League has launched a tender process for a broad range of digital services required by both FL Interactive (FLi) and The League itself.

FLi is the digital subsidiary of The Football League, doctor managing and developing the internet and mobile rights of The Football League and 84 participating clubs.

This includes 67 Football League clubs, 8 Premier League clubs and 9 non-league clubs and includes the provision of official club websites, audio/video and mobile services.

The Football League’s director of Business Development, Kieron Kilbride stated: ‘The decision to launch the tender follows the largest research project ever undertaken by FLi. Through that process we gained tremendous insight into the needs of stakeholders, the suitability of our existing digital platform and opportunities for future development’.? ?‘We are now focused on implementing solutions that ensure that The League can achieve its objective of delivering cutting edge products, the very best service levels and very strong revenue growth’.

The FLi network is reportedly the largest football network globally, with more than 6m unique users viewing its websites. The 84 participating clubs currently attract an average of 6.5m users per month, and around 900,000 mobile internet users per month. 

The tender process is expected to last between 2 and 3 months.

Modern Times Group (MTG), pills an international entertainment broadcasting company, clinic today announced that it has signed a number of agreements to extend its exclusive broadcasting rights in the Nordic and Baltic countries for a number of key golf tournaments.

The new agreements are valid until the end of 2015.

The signed agreements include the PGA European Tour, the World Golf Championships, Ryder Cup, The Open, US PGA Championship, The Asian Tour, and the women´s British Open. The Group has already secured the exclusive broadcasting rights to the PGA Tour until 2015.

The Group’s golf rights are broadcast on Viasat’s premium pay-TV channel Viasat Golf, which is made available through the Viasat satellite platforms in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries and the Group’s third-party networks offerings in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, as well as through the Viaplay service in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.

Hans-Holger Albrecht, President and CEO of MTG, commented: “We are delighted to be able to extend our exclusive broadcasting rights to these key golf tournaments. Viasat Golf is the leading provider of golf coverage in the Nordic and Baltic regions, and we are proud to continue providing our subscribers with the very best worldwide golf coverage.”

The broadcasting rights were acquired through IMG Nordic.

Kristian Hysén, Senior Vice President of IMG Nordics commented: “Viasat Golf offers a world class golf channel and the respective rights owners are very pleased to continue with the cooperation for an extended period.”

Red and White Holdings Ltd., co-owned by Alisher Usmanov, announced yesterday, Marc 22, that the Russian billionaire has increased his holding in English Premier League soccer club Arsenal to more than 27 per cent.

Despite raising his stake in the club, Usmanov remains behind American Stan Kroenke who is the largest individual shareholder in the London club, with 29.9 per cent.

If any party were to cross the 29.99 per cent takeover threshold, under the strict financial rules of the City, they would be obliged to make a formal offer for the remainder of the shares.

Although Usmanov, unlike Kroenke, does not yet have a seat on the Arsenal board, the news has continued his steady accumulation of shares and will fuel speculation that the Gunners are set for more changes behind the scenes.

Despite the Red & White group initially releasing a statement in April last year maintaining that a full-blown offer was not on their agenda and they remained ‘a committed long-term investor in Arsenal’, Usmanov claimed in December that his objective was to bring up a ‘blocking state’ of 29.9%, and from that point he ‘will just keep looking’.

Former director Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith put her family’s 15.9 per cent stake up for sale in April, and Usmanov’s latest dealings could be the result of some minor tradings.

The club’s other major shareholder is non-executive director Danny Fiszman who controls 16 per cent of the shares.

ESPN STAR Sports has announced an agreement with Al Jazeera Sport for the broadcast rights of the Friends Life Twenty20 2012.

Star Sports, symptoms the exclusive Asian rights holder for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) domestic and home international matches, deal with Al Jazeera marks a significant landmark for cricket broadcasting in the Middle East and North Africa with Al Jazeera Sport televising cricket for the first time ever with LIVE coverage of 25 matches from ECB’s domestic Twenty20 league scheduled to take place from June 12 to August 25.

ESPN STAR Sports licenses ECB broadcast rights throughout North Africa and the Middle East along with various other parts of Asia. In addition, ESS’ international cricket syndication business includes global distribution of marquee properties such as International Cricket Council events and Champions League T20 as well as Cricket Australia’s events (in Asia and North Africa).

Over the last few years, ESS has broadcast the game of cricket to over 180 territories across the globe in more than 16 languages, which has been a key contributor to the tremendous growth in the global visibility and popularity of the game.

English Premier League soccer club Birmingham City’s holding company has raised US$11.2m by selling a 12 per cent stake through a share sale as the side attempt to increase funds after parent company Birmingham International Holdings Ltd. (BIH) said its liabilities exceeded assets by about $44.65m.

According to a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Carson Yeung remains the biggest investor in BIH although his stake has fallen from 18.5 per cent to 16.3 per cent, controlled through a personal holding and his company Great Luck Management Ltd.

The filing said 450 million shares, representing about 12.37 per cent of the company, were sold at US2.56 cents each, to no fewer than six parties who aren’t connected to the company or to anyone linked to it.

BIH announced earlier this month that Yeung was applying for a $19.25m loan and had pledged in writing that all the money would be used to “provide sufficient financial resources” to allow the business to meet its liabilities and carry on “without significant curtailment of its operation.”

The company said it was fundraising because its financial position indicated “the existence of a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt on the group’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

The English Premier League announced today that Sky and BT has gained the rights to English top flight matches in the UK between the 2013/14 to 2015/16 seasons.

Sky secured five packages allowing them to receive 116 matches, for sale while BT got two packages worth 38 matches.

The overall value delivered for the seven packages following the structured and independently scrutinised sales process totalling £3.018 billion ($4.7bn). 

Premier League Chief Executive, Richard Scudamore, said: “The Barclays Premier League continues to provide excellent football and enthralling drama as we saw last season. The value this drives for our rightsholders is evident and we are extremely pleased that this has been realised for our UK live rights.

“As ever, the security provided by broadcast revenues will enable our clubs to continue to invest in all aspects of their football activities and plan sustainably for the foreseeable future. This deal allows them to keep delivering what fans want; top quality football in some of world’s best club stadia and an increasing focus on and commitment to areas such as Youth Development.

“The continuing support of BSkyB for Premier League football is significant beyond the revenues delivered; the longevity and quality of their commitment has done much for the English game as a whole. We are very happy to see this relationship maintained for another three seasons.

“We welcome BT as a new Premier League broadcast partner. They are a substantial British company that is at the leading edge of technology and infra-structure development. They are clearly investing in quality content to use on their platforms and when combined with the reach and pull of Premier League football they will deliver new ways in which fans will be able to follow the competition.

“These are exciting times for both the football and media worlds and we should all be proud of the value both industries contribute to the UK culturally and economically.

“I would also like to place on record the Premier League’s thanks to the numerous other highly credible bidders that showed such interest in the live UK rights.”

The Scottish Premier League (SPL) has postponed the vote with regards to a potential league reform, with clubs due to get together at Hampden next week, because of the soccer international week.

SPL bosses are keen to push for a top league of 10 with a second tier of 12, despite several members have voiced concerns over the plans.

The 12 club chairmen of the SPL’s current sides will now be asked to make a decision on the proposals on Monday, April 18, after SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster had said in January, that consensus was being sought for their preferred 10/12 structure.

However, some clubs still required convincing over the merits of a smaller SPL and the viability of plans to increase financial help for those suffering relegation.

Former first minister Henry McLeish delivered a report on the future of Scottish football to the Scottish Football Association in December, and said a 10-team top division was the most financially viable future model for the SPL.

ESPN Brazil has renewed it’s media rights agreement with the FIM Superbike World Championship, the world’s leading international production-based motorcycle series.

 

The deal was broquered by Infront Sports & Media.  

 

The agreement with the largest commercial broadcaster in the country is now exclusive and covers a three year period starting from the 2013 season. ESPN Brazil will provide full live and delayed coverage in HD quality of all 14 rounds of all classes, including Supersport and Superstock.

 

This is the latest in a series of developments to further spread the reach of the FIM Superbike World Championship on a global scale. As the largest commercial broadcaster in the country and reaching 12.2 million subscribers, ESPN Brazil will offer the championship much extended visibility and will at the same time provide a showcase for manufacturers, teams, riders and commercial partners.

 

João Palomino, Director of Journalism of ESPN Brazil, said: “The eni Superbike World Championship is a first-class TV product and an attractive content for our audience as the series provides more tension, excitement and action than any other motor sport. With ESPN as the exclusive broadcaster in Brazil, fans can look forward to receiving extensive coverage of the highest quality throughout the next three years.”

 

Stephan Herth, Executive Director Summer Sports at Infront, added: “This new agreement with ESPN Brazil is a great achievement for the sport as it guarantees continuous presence in a growth market with a strong affinity for motorcycling. The long term nature of the arrangement allows ESPN to establish high-quality coverage, help to make the series even more accessible for the audience and transmit the fascination of motor racing at highest level to the fans in Brazil.”

Current English Premier League soccer champions Chelsea has renewed its partnership with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and in turn, find its commitment to developing football in the continent.

The initial agreement which saw the London club work alongside the AFC on grassroots projects has been extended through to 2015, medicine with a specific focus of the partnership on the development of football in China, one of the biggest AFC Vision Asia projects, but including the scope to look to other initiatives.

AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam, who is expected to confirm his candidacy for the FIFA presidential elections on Friday, stated: “This is a great chance for a club to work with a football confederation to develop football.

“Since the first contract was signed four years ago, we have developed our football a lot and overcome some of the challenges in improving the grassroots level of football. Currently 38 cities are part of the Vision Asia development programme and the snowball is still rolling,” he added

Chelsea CEO Ron Gourlay added: “Since Chelsea and AFC signed the first agreement in 2007, it’s been an exciting time for us at the club to have the chance to work with a confederation to develop football, especially in China. We believe the game is getting stronger in Asia and we are happy to be a part of it by spreading our wings to Asia.”