Sri Lanka Cricket has offered the local television rights to the new Carlton Sports Network for a three-year period, order after the sports channel emerged the sole bidder.

Carlton Sports Network (CSN) was formed last February and its chief executive, diagnosis Nishantha Ranatunga is also the present secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).

Cricket board chief Upali Dharmadasa said the governing body’s sponsorship committee decided to give CSN the rights from 2012-2015, cialis the Colombo-based Daily Mirror newspaper said.

Last month, SLC’s executive committee also approved CSN’s 125 million rupee bid for three-years, the paper said. 

Ranatunga’s conflict of interest with the governing body and the sports channel, was raised by Sri Lanka Parliament’s Committee On Public Enterprises (COPE) which probed the cash-strapped cricket board last year.

“The dissatisfaction of the Committee was expressed on offering the tender to an organisation in which the Secretary of the Cricket Board was functioning as the CEO,” said COPE in a report tabled in parliament last year.

Carlton Sports also benefits from a government directive last July, which mandated local television and radio broadcast rights for cricket matches to be awarded to only state media or dedicated sports channels.

CSN was the only dedicated sports media channel at the time the law came into effect, the report said.

Carlton Sports first won the local TV rights for Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka in June last year.

English Premier League soccer club Sunderland has claimed that the last year, to July 2010, was one of “growth and development” despite announcing an annual loss of US$41.12m, a figure $3.22m deeper than the year previous.

Sunderland’s chief executive Steve Walton admitted that the club was “facing challenging economic times, both nationally and regionally”.

However, having only run up to the summer of 2010, the latest figures do no incorporate two major dealings in the club’s history. Firstly, the record signing of Ghanaian international striker Asamoah Gyan and secondly the club’s record sale in star man Darren Bent, whose transfer to rivals Aston Villa is reported to be a potential sum of $38.7m

Turnover rose to $105.46m but operating expenses – which include players’ wages and utilities charges – also went up, to $113.5m.

During the period Sunderland, known as the Black Cats, spent $42.25m on transfers, signing 10 players and taking three more on loan.

Mr Walton said: “There has been significant investment made to improve our playing squad and we are now starting to see the benefits of that investment.”

He said the support of owner Ellis Short put the club in a secure position, converting a further $30.6m of loans into shares in the club.

cialis helvetica, sans-serif;”>Video sharing platform Dailymotion has announced it has signed an exclusive partnership with the All England Lawn Tennis Club (Championships) Limited (AELTC).

Following this agreement, it will stream live content from The Championships, Wimbledon 2012, to tennis fans in the UK, US and South America (excluding Brazil).

Live @ Wimbledon is claimed to be able to “blend live tennis with the off-court buzz of a day at Wimbledon” to give fans more interaction and engagement. It will be presented by former tennis stars Annabel Croft and Mats Wilander and will be on air every day for the full two weeks of The Championships.

The AELTC is using Dailymotion’s technology platform to deliver this content on wimbledon.com and the official mobile iPhone and Android apps, and on Dailymotion, whose global audience reaches 115 million monthly unique visitors.

Chairman of the English Football League, Greg Clarke spoke at a UK parliamentary inquiry into soccer governance yesterday, February 15, warning that clubs are heading towards the “precipice” because of excessive debt levels.

Clarke told MPs on the culture, media and sport select committee: “Debt’s the biggest problem. If I had to list the 10 things about football that keep me awake at night, it would be debt one to 10.

“The level of debt is absolutely unsustainable. We are heading for the precipice and we will get there quicker than people think.”

The Football League has set up working parties to investigate all three of its divisions and it will publish a five-year plan aimed at improving the finances and running of its 72 clubs.

Clarke added: “We will hope to catalyse change. We will share it with our chairmen and say this where you are going unless you change now.”

Speaking upon the appointment of David Bernstein as chairman of the Football Association, Clarke added: “I would be amazed if he doesn’t drive hard for independent directors – he comes from a background where it’s normal to have independent directors. And he will have our support.

Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association also shared Clarke’s fears, stating: “The game has never had more income but on the other hand has never had more debt.

“It is going to be open house again if we are not careful. The transfer market can be a vehicle for abuse because of the vast amounts of money involved. There needs to be some form of control on agents.”

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Related Discussion:FA Community Shield Started by Michael Cunnah.

GMM Grammy Sport has signed a five-year deal to broadcast the Japanese J-League.

Grammy chairman Paiboon Damrongchaitham told a press conference yesterday that his firm purchased the J-League rights because “it’s Asia’s No.1 league and is more exciting than some European leagues.”

J-League matches will be shown live on Grammy’s satellite service.

The contract is the latest move by Grammy to increase its broadcasting power after recently winning the rights to show Euro 2012 and Germany’s Bundesliga.

The final of the London 2012 Olympics soccer tournament will be played at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 11 August next year, according to the Games’ schedule released yesterday, February 15. This will then impact on the inaugural curtain-raising event for the English Premier League – the Community Shield – which will need to relocate to accommodate for the Olympics match.

The Community Shield was scheduled for the following day, coinciding with the Closing Ceremony of the Games, due to the Premier League kick-off being put back in order to steer clear of the Olympics.

Speculation that the FA would use the opportunity to take the game overseas – as happens regularly with the Italian Super Cup which was in Beijing last year – has since been quashed by the FA. One would suggest that the game would move to Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, but this is also not a possible alternative, with the men’s third place play-off being held at the venue on August 10.

An FA spokesman said: “The Community Shield take place at the traditional time at a prestigious stadium in England.” This makes Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground the favourite, since its last Olympic game is the men’s semi-final on Tuesday, August 7.

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Related Discussion: FA Community Shield – by Michael Cunnah

 

The first-ever  Southeast Asian (SEA) Swimming Championships will be broadcast on major regional television and online video streaming channels under an agreement with World Sport Group, recipe the company which has been appointed as the exclusive media rights partner for the 2012, advice 2014 and 2016 editions of the event.

This FINA-sanctioned regional event will be held in Singapore from May 28th to June 17th, and features four aquatic disciplines – swimming, water polo, synchronized swimming and diving. 

Live coverage of the swimming competition finals which will also serve as the final qualifiers for the 2012 London Games will begin on June 13th on leading video streaming websites UStream and YouTube, as well as on StarHub (Singapore), Astro (Malaysia), Skynet (Myanmar) and ONEWorldSports (USA), with other broadcasters to be confirmed.

Highlights clips of the water polo, synchronized swimming, diving and swimming competitions will be available on YouTube and UStream from May 28^th.

“The inaugural SEA Swimming Championships is not only staging its first appearance but it is also setting a benchmark for a regional aquatic event in providing comprehensive coverage and multiple avenues to engage fans from all over the world. Fans can follow their favourite Southeast Asian athletes on television or via popular online media platforms, all delivered via the help and expertise of our exclusive media rights partner, World Sport Group. As a swimming fan, I am certainly very excited and looking forward to the start of the SEA Swimming Championships,” said Jeffrey Leow, Chairman of the Organising Committee of the SEA Swimming Championships 2012.

Mark Hardess, President, ASEAN and Australia, World Sport Group, said: “We are delighted to be a part of the first-ever SEA Swimming Championships, a milestone for aquatic sports in the region.   Coverage on some of the world’s most popular video streaming and social media sites, along with television broadcast will ensure that the competition will be available to a wide audience in the region and beyond.” said Mark Hardess, President, ASEAN and Australia, World Sport Group.

English Premier League soccer giants Manchester United are set to become the first ever club in the league’s history to break the £100m (US$161.24m) mark for commercial revenue.

It has been revealed that the club’s revenue has risen up to $38.7m over the first quarter of the accounting year with media reports suggesting that the second quarter will be just as strong. The last annual figures put the club’s commercial income to $130.5m, a growth of 16 per cent.

A new ‘territory specific’ approach to commercial opportunities implemented by Ricahrd Arnold, United’s commercial director, and agreed with the Glazer family, has allowed the club to rapidly expand that area of revenue.

Chief executive David Gill said: “One of the strengths of this club compared to others is that we get income from all revenue streams.

“Our match day revenue is around 40 per cent of our overall turnover, we are part of a great competition in the Premier League that continues to grow and the commercial sector has gone up from 20 per cent to 30 per cent. They are all high margins and will continue to give us the money Sir Alex Ferguson needs to keep the club at the top.

“That will stand us in very good stead. They are all high margins and will continue to give us the money Sir Alex Ferguson needs to keep the club at the top. There is a strong desire within our great supporter base for that to happen.”

The Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC) has secured for the first time the broadcast rights to the London 2012 Olympics

According to the NOC the worth of the rights is estimated at N80 million ($499,219) , while the total marketing worth of the NOC is put at N250 million ($1.56m).

The president of the NOC, Engineer Sanni Ndanusa, said the rights was purchased from South Africa base Octagon Africa which is the original custodian of the rights from theIOC.

He stressed that for the first time, three electronic broadcast outfits, the Nigerian Television Authority, African Independent Television and Radio Nigeria are the three channels through which broadcast feeds will get to the living rooms of Nigerian within the African hub in keeping with the free to air concept of international broadcast.

Ndanusa who regretted that Nigeria did not get this kind of window during the last FIFAU-17 World Championship, which it hosted in 2009 out of ignorance, however vowed that the country was going to make the most out of this project as the benefit is going beyond sports.

”Nigeria’s participation in the London 2012 Olympics is going beyond sports as cultural and economic investment potential of the country will all showcased. The countdown has just begun and Nigeria is good to go,” he said.

Shedding more light on the development, NOC head of marketing, Patrick Ukah said: ”We will for the first time be broadcasting the Olympics by a Nigerian radio live from London . There is going to be live and delayed broadcast.

According to Ukah, the current executive of the NOC wants to create a new and healthy perception of the NOC to the world. All prospective media and marketing partners are expected to leverage their advertising deals through the NOC irrespective of their status in whatever category of business they are operating within the continent and the country.

Switzerland and in particular, Zurich’s best-known soccer side, Grasshopper-Club may be forced to leave the nation’s capital, home to the likes of FIFA and the IOC, after a major disagreement with the city’s authorities.

The club, who have been inhabitant’s of the city since being founded 125 years ago, are considering a provisional move to ground-share with league rivals Aarau.

Grasshopper have been Swiss champions on 27 occasions and cup winners on 18, but president Urs Linsi stated: “Better for the club to live in Aarau than die in Zurich. We have no alternative but to move out.”

The falling out has come with regards to rental costs that the club has to pay for its Letzigrund stadium, almost US$900,000 per season, as well as policing costs of nearly $867,000 for match days.