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.”

European football body UEFA has awarded the 2012-15 Champions League media rights in Slovenia to SportKlub and Telekom Slovenia.

Each match week SportKlub will show live the best-pick Wednesday match, followed by a highlights programme.

Telekom Slovenia has been awarded the rights to all the remaining matches and will broadcast the best-pick Tuesday match each match week, followed by a highlights programme on Planet TV. Further matches will be broadcast on Telekom Slovenia’s IPTV channel.

The Champions League final and Super Cup have been awarded to both broadcasters on a co-exclusive basis.

The world soccer governing body, FIFA has issued a warning to suspend Portugal’s national sides and clubs from international competition should the country’s federation fail to approve new statutes that conform with the organisation’s rules.

The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) is hoping to pass the statutes in a vote later this month, March 19, after its regional associations rejected them in previous assemblies because they feared losing influence at national level.

FIFA’s media office told Reuters: “Should that [approval] not be the case, the associations committee would refer the case to the FIFA emergency committee for possible sanctions, including suspension.”

A potential suspension would put the national side’s 2012 European Championship qualifiers at risk and exclude the country’s top clubs, such as Porto, Benfica and Braga, who have qualified for the last-16 round of the Europa League, from UEFA competitions.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter added: “We are worried about the situation in Portugal. The Portuguese federation has to approve the statutes.” 

The Portuguese government, which insists on the rule changes, has already reprimanded the FPF for not resolving the problem and terminated sponsorship contracts.

The new statutes would transfer significant voting power from regional associations to the country’s leagues, players’ unions, referees and coaches.

The FPF board released a statement, saying: “We are making another appeal to our members’ sense of responsibility on March 19, so we can avoid grave damage to Portuguese football.”

 

The SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and SportFive have formalised a three-year agreement for South Africa’s national team’s competitive away matches on the continent.

The France-based company holds media and marketing rights to all Confederation of African Football (Caf) related events.

“This agreement shows that broadcasting matches of our national teams is not just our mandate as a public broadcaster, but our ethos,” said SABC group CEO Lulama Mokhobo.

“We are proud to have reached this deal with SportFive as it will ensure that South Africans are able to follow Bafana Bafana’s progress.

“In terms of the agreement, the SABC will have all the broadcasting rights of Bafana Bafana away matches for the territory of South Africa.

“This agreement includes three away official qualifying matches of the Fifa World Cup in 2014, and three away qualifying matches for the African Cup of Nations in 2015.

“The SABC has constantly strived to ensure that its loyal, sport-loving fans always get the opportunity to see their national teams in action.”

The broadcaster and SportFive have clashed on numerous occasions about Bafana matches, with the SABC failing to show two 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers last year after talks broke down.

“We, as SportFive, are pleased to have concluded this deal with the SABC on behalf of our clients, Caf,” said its managing director Idriss Akki.

“SABC have been partners for a very long time and we are pleased that this relationship has been extended for another three years till 2015, and hope to see it go even beyond that.

“These negotiations have been long and difficult, but as always we have arrived at a position that works for both SportFive and the SABC.”

The agreement will cover Bafana Bafana’s away match against Botswana in Gaborone on Saturday.

The SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and SportFive have formalised a three-year agreement for South Africa’s national team’s competitive away matches on the continent.

The France-based company holds media and marketing rights to all Confederation of African Football (Caf) related events.

“This agreement shows that broadcasting matches of our national teams is not just our mandate as a public broadcaster, but our ethos,” said SABC group CEO Lulama Mokhobo.

“We are proud to have reached this deal with SportFive as it will ensure that South Africans are able to follow Bafana Bafana’s progress.

“In terms of the agreement, the SABC will have all the broadcasting rights of Bafana Bafana away matches for the territory of South Africa.

“This agreement includes three away official qualifying matches of the Fifa World Cup in 2014, and three away qualifying matches for the African Cup of Nations in 2015.

“The SABC has constantly strived to ensure that its loyal, sport-loving fans always get the opportunity to see their national teams in action.”

The broadcaster and SportFive have clashed on numerous occasions about Bafana matches, with the SABC failing to show two 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers last year after talks broke down.

“We, as SportFive, are pleased to have concluded this deal with the SABC on behalf of our clients, Caf,” said its managing director Idriss Akki.

“SABC have been partners for a very long time and we are pleased that this relationship has been extended for another three years till 2015, and hope to see it go even beyond that.

“These negotiations have been long and difficult, but as always we have arrived at a position that works for both SportFive and the SABC.”

The agreement will cover Bafana Bafana’s away match against Botswana in Gaborone on Saturday.

 

A potential Britain national soccer team could begin its preparations for London 2012 with a special fundraising match against New Zealand at Wembley Stadium for the victims of the Christchurch earthquake if a proposal from the President of the Oceania Football Confederation is accepted.

David Chung has already received approval for a “Football for Hope” match in principle from world governing body FIFA, to help the people affected by the earthquake in Christchurch last month, which killed 166 people with more than 30 still missing. 

Chung has now begun making overtures to see if Britain’s controversial Olympic team can be lined-up to be the opponents for the All Whites, who were the only undefeated side at last year’s World Cup in South Africa.

The controversy surrounding the possibility of a British Olympic team is currently the subject of a fierce row between the four Home Nations over who will be eligible to play. The Football Associations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland fear that they will lose their independence from FIFA were they to join forces, alongside England, in next year’s Olympics.

“FIFA have approved the concept of a ‘Football for Hope’ match,” Chung told the Sunday News in New Zealand.

“Despite the wish to do it quickly in a rush to confirm something, it’s going to take a bit of time.

“One thing we’ve floated is if Great Britain could put an Olympic side out in preparation for the 2012 Games.

“If New Zealand played at Wembley, being conservative, even if you only sold 40,000 tickets [roughly half capacity] at US$66, that’s $2.6m.”

The topic was raised by Chung and OFC secretary general Tai Nicholas this weekend during a visit to Celtic Manor in Wales where they were attending the International Football Association Board meeting, which is made up of FIFA and the four Home Nations.

“The four British associations are here and so are four representatives from FIFA,” Chung said. 

“So it will be a good time to discuss the idea.

“There’s a lot of hurdles to pass in terms of where and when, but a summer match would be good.”