ONE World Sports (OWS) has extended its contract for the exclusive North American rights to all Asian Confederation (AFC) events through 2016 under the terms of its agreement with World Sport Group (WSG).

The AFC is Asian football’s governing body with 46 Member Associations. It is one of six Confederations comprising the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA). AFC’s premier event is the Asian Cup competition held every fourth year. This jewel in the crown event is one of the big three Continental cups along with the European nations Euro Cup and the South American nations Copa America. Japan presently holds the Asian Cup, having beaten Australia in the 2011 final with the Korean Republic placing third. The next Asian Cup is slated for 2015 in Australia.

In addition to the Asian Cup, OWS will multicast the AFC Champions League. The Champions League features Asia’s top club teams including Japan, China and the Korean Republic as they compete for the honor of becoming Asia’s Champion Club. OWS will also have the rights to the AFC’s qualifying matches for the FIFA World Cup 2014 and the Rio 2016 Olympic games.

James Clarke, Senior Vice President – Content, World Sport Group, added: “We are very pleased to have One World Sports join us as our North American broadcast partner. OWS have committed to show more matches from the AFC events than have ever been shown in the USA and Canada before, from a broad range of our competitions, including both the main national team competitions and the AFC Champions League. We greatly appreciate their support.”

Rick Jemison, Senior Vice President Programming, One World Sports, said: “We are excited about the extension of our exclusive rights to the AFC events through 2016. The extension guarantees that we will bring the 2015 Asian Cup, Asia’s top soccer match, as well as ongoing live coverage of AFC events to our North American audience. It’s part of our long-term commitment to deliver Asia’s best soccer events live on TV, broadband and mobile to U.S. sports fans.”

English Premier League soccer club Fulham have announced a widened loss from the last fiscal year due to higher costs after reaching the UEFA Europa League final.

According to accounts published by Companies House, discount the loss at the club, check owned by Mohamed Al-Fayed, clinic surged to US$27.2m from $11m due mainly to the expense of hosting extra games and player-trading costs.

However, sales climbed 15 per cent to a record $123.4m in the year to June 30, boosted by the European run, which contributed $20m.

Fayed released a statement, reading: “As is evident, I remain committed to making investment funds available to achieve our goals both on and off the pitch. The continued success of Fulham and its eventual financial self-sustainability is my priority.”

The Executive Committee of the French Rugby Federation (FFR) has approved the allocation of matches for France for the next four seasons with France Televisions and Eurosport getting deals. 

France Televisions has gained to rights to the national teams tour matches in November, home games of the 6 Nations Tournament in France and Women’s under 20 games.

Eurosport meanwhile has secured the rights to Fedraral 1 games.

Pierre Camou, President of the FFR, said: “I am very pleased to see that rugby through his window, the XV of France, and other national teams, has mobilized the major groups of French television. Successful tenders allow our sport to consolidate over the next four seasons for media exposure and its financial resources. “

The president of the French Football League (FLP) Frederic Thiriez has revealed the need for calm after a report by the league’s financing authority, the national directorate of management control (DNCG), unveiled worrying financial results for the country’s top soccer clubs.

In its annual report for the year through to June 30, 2010, the DNCG announced a cumulative deficit of nearly US$180m for clubs, with Ligue 1 outfits accounting for $157.8m of the total.

The losses for the 20 clubs in the top flight were reduced to $157.8m after write-downs by some shareholders, but Thiriez is concerned that the deficit has increased from $78.9m in the previous financial year.

In an interview with Reuters, Thiriez stated: “The accounts are not good. However, it is necessary to keep our heads. This report will be submitted to the union so that it can make its observations.”

Octoshape and America ONE Sports have announced today that they have again been chosen by Tennis Channel as the exclusive provider of video streaming services for the prestigious 111th French Open on TennisChannel.com.

This year the linear video is delivered to consumers via the Octoshape Infinite HD-M Federated Multicast Broadband TV platform. This technology enables the quality, there scale and economics of traditional broadcast technologies over the public Internet. Telco and cable operators that are part of the Infinite HD-M Federated network receive the signals via native IP Multicast in a way that allows them to easily manage large volumes of traffic without upgrading their Internet capacity.

America ONE Sports is providing the onsite downlink services with ONE CONNXT, stomach as well as the enhanced multicourt video player experience. The encoded video signals are acquired using the Octoshape Infinite Uplink technologies. The live and on demand stream coverage includes unique Octoshape features such as instant on, abortion DVR functionality and picture-in-picture viewing. The player experience also includes bonus features developed by America ONE Sports, such as live chat and event stats.

“A high quality, interactive experience is priority number one for consumers of Tennis Channel content,” said Robyn Miller, senior vice president, Tennis Channel. “With America ONE Sports and Octoshape we achieve that goal. This year we provide content efficiently allowing broadband providers to fully meet consumer demand.”

Tennis Channel has the most hours of live French Open Coverage of any U.S. television network, approximately 75 hours overall. The network is available in more than 55 million homes during the tournament, the most prestigious annual clay-court event in tennis. For those who do not currently receive Tennis Channel, TennisChannel.com provides a live online stream that allows viewers to watch all the normal coverage for free.

“The French Open coverage by the Tennis Channel is a marquee event to showcase America ONE Sports and ONE CONNXT Transport Services. The quality and viewer experience is exceptional and truly adds a great deal of value to the French Open,” said Paul Dingwitz, CTO of ONE Media Corp.

“Supporting the French Open for the Tennis Channel again this year is a testament to our commitment to TV quality video,” said Michael Koehn Milland, CEO of Octoshape. “With our new Infinite HD-M platform, we can now also offer the scale and economics of traditional broadcast TV distribution, over the Internet.”

English Championship soccer club and league leaders Queens Park Rangers have been charged along with club chairman Gianni Paladini with seven breaches of Football Association (FA) violations relating to the contract rights of player Alejandro Faurlin.

Faurlin, 24, joined QPR in 2009 from Instituto in his native Argentina in a deal worth US$5.6m.

The FA said in a statement it had concerns over the alleged existence of an agreement between the club and a third party in respect to Faurlin’s rights, as well as an alleged failure of the club to notify the governing body of the agreement.

The FA added that QPR was also charged for allegedly using or seeking to pay an unauthorized agent over the signing.

According to the FA, the club and Paladini were also charged for false information contained in documents relating to a contract extension Faurlin signed in October, without providing specific details of any of the allegations.

The club released a statement on its website reading: “Having cooperated fully with the F.A.’s investigation, QPR and Mr. Paladini shall be denying all of the charges and requesting a formal F.A. hearing to determine them”.

QPR said it is confident that there was “no deliberate wrongdoing involved.”

All 66 games from the International Softball Federation (ISF) XIII Women’s World Championship that starts on July 13 will be webstreamed. 

The 16-nation event will take place in Whitehorse, health Yukon (Canada).

“We are extremely pleased that fans around the world will be able to see the action from Whitehorse, cough ” ISF President Don Porter said.  “We know that the worldwide softball community will be looking to interact with the tournament regardless of their location, apoplectic so having all of the games online is a perfect meeting place to accomplish that.”

Mr. Porter added, “My thanks go out to the local organizing committee in Whitehorse for securing this opportunity.”

The games will be streamed live and free. Games will be recorded and archived for on-demand viewing as well.  Starting July 13, the games can be viewed on www.sportscanada.tv and viewers will be able to interact through a Twitter feed embedded next to the video player.

The ten-day tournament will include: Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, South Africa, USA, and Venezuela. 

The Americans are the defending champions, having won the twelfth edition of the event, which took place in 2010 in Caracas, Venezuela.  This (2012) is the first year that the ISF world championships are starting an every-two-years rotation after having been one a year every four years. 

English Premier League soccer giant Manchester United’s CEO David Gill has insisted he is “comfortable” with the club’s financial situation and claimed that a net debt of £370m (US$600m) is not having a negative impact.

Gill went on to tell a UK House of Commons select committee hearing into soccer governance that the club was right to ignore fan groups who were “at war” with the Glazers, who have been unpopular owners with some sections of the fans since taking over in 2005.

Gill stated: “We know it’s there but it doesn’t impact what we do. There has been no impact in terms of our transfers.”

Gill also said that that he does not believe the Glazers have been “an embarrassment” and defended the owners’ silent stance in the face of supporters’ groups, which have staged numerous protests, adding: “We are not going to engage in structured dialogue with organisations like that. I don’t think it’s appropriate. They are at war with the owners.”

TSN network has signed a three-year deal with NBCUniversal Television Canada to air the Belmont Stakes – the final leg of horse racing’s prestigious Triple Crown.

TSN’s coverage begins this year with Jockey Mario Gutierrez and Canadian thoroughbred I’ll Have Another looking to make history on Saturday by winning the elusive Triple Crown. TSN has live coverage of the Belmont Stakes on June 9 at 5 p.m. ET.

“There is nothing bigger in horse racing than winning the Triple Crown and we are thrilled to be able to bring the Belmont Stakes to Canadians for the next three years,” said Shawn Redmond, Vice-President of Programming and Marketing, TSN. “We’ll be joining all Canadians in cheering on I’ll Have Another on what could be a momentous occasion in Canadian sports history.”

I’ll Have Another will attempt to become the first horse in 34 years to capture horse racing’s elusive Triple Crown after winning the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes earlier this year.

In addition to live coverage on TSN, the 144th running of the Belmont Stakeswill also air live on TSN Radio 1050 in Toronto and TSN Radio 990 in Montreal. Following the race, the Belmont Stakes post-race show will air at 7 p.m. ET on TSN2.

TSN’s Katherine Dolan will be onsite at the Belmont in New York, filing reports for SPORTSCENTRE and keeping race fans updated with highlights and post-race reactions.

Also known as the ‘Run for the Carnations,’ the Belmont Stakes is the longest of the three Triple Crown races at a mile-and-a-half and is considered the hardest to win.  The winner of the Belmont Stakes takes home a total cash purse of $1 million (USD).

Having pulled off a shock result to beat English Premier League rivals Arsenal in the final of the League Cup, soccer club Birmingham City earned automatic qualification to the Europa League. However, fears over the clubs financial situations have been allayed by the owners, who say they are confident that they will have “no problem” meeting the financial criteria to allow the club to play in the competition next season.

But reports suggested Blues may have to prove their financial security to the Premier League, Football Association and UEFA in order to compete in Europe.

Vice-chairman Peter Pannu told the club website Birmingham are “in credit” and have “no financial impediment”.

UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, brought in licensing rules in June 2010 which dictate that clubs must be financially secure to participate in competitions which rung alarm bells after Birmingham International Holdings – the club’s parent company – revealed Blues and other Hong Kong-based business had total debts in excess of £29m.

However, Pannu added: “It is important to note that Birmingham City FC is a separate corporate entity from BIHL – a listed company in Hong Kong.

“Although a distant subsidiary, Birmingham City FC’s accounts are separate and it operates on its own financial basis.

“We will have no problem securing UEFA licence approval to play in Europe for which the club had already filed the papers.

“As for Birmingham International Holdings Limited, the financial support by a major shareholder is a common occurrence and there is no cause for concern or any direct links to Birmingham City FC’s well-being.”