Renewed speculation arose today that the Glazer family is reportedly on the brink of selling Manchester United to Qatar Holdings for £1.6bn (US$2.56bn).

UK newspaper, sale The Daily Express claimed that a deal was “virtually done” and that the two sides are “only haggling over details”.

If the figure touted is accurate then any sale of the club by the controversial American owners would represent double the money that Malcolm Glazer and his family spent, stuff in the six years since they paid £790m ($1.26bn) for the club in the summer of 2005.

United has consistently denied it is interested in selling the club since Qatar Holdings, discount the business investment branch of the Qatar Royal family, was first seriously linked with a bid just before Christmas. According to sources of the newspaper, the Qataris have agreed to add another $160m on to their initial $2.4bn offer.

United’s director of communications Phil Townsend, who now also acts as Glazer family spokesman, maintained: “There has been no approach to buy Manchester United and no approach would be welcome.”

ONE World Sports (OWS) has signed three-year extensions for North American multi-platform rights with Japan’s J. League, the Korea Professional Football League (K-League) and the Chinese Football Association Super League (CSL) under terms of an agreement with World Sport Group (WSG).

Each weekend, ONE World Sports will feature three games from the J. League, two games from the CSL and one game from the K-League. This is in addition to two games from the Australian League (A-League). The combination of leagues offers a full host of top-notch soccer from Asia’s leading soccer leagues. The games are presented live whenever possible to add to the real-time excitement of the match.

“We are so pleased with the extension of our J. League, K-League and CSL football rights,” said Rick Jemison, Senior Vice President Programming, ONE World Sports. “We are committed to bringing Asia’s best soccer matches to its fans in North America. It is a tremendous vote of confidence for Asia’s preeminent soccer leagues to choose us to continue to deliver the live and exclusive coverage of their games.”

The J. League includes eighteen teams and is the top division of the Japanese professional football league. Its season is played from March to December and consists of matches played in double round-robin (home and away) format of 34 games each.

The CSL is the highest and most prestigious level of professional soccer in China. The league has sixteen teams. Three clubs competed in this season’s AFC Champions League, Asia’s premier soccer club competition, with Guangzhou Evergrande qualifying for the round of sixteen.

The K-League is South Korea’s top professional soccer league. It has a proven history of excellence, with four of the league’s sixteen teams competing in the 2012 AFC Champions League and Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma and Ulsan Hyundai advancing to the round of sixteen.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has secured the broadcasting rights for the Bupa Great Run series until 2018.

The deal includes the world’s biggest half marathon, the Great North Run, and the Great Manchester 10K Run.

BBC director of sport Barbara Slater, said: “These events celebrate elite long distance athletics and inspire thousands of amateur runners.”

The Great Edinburgh Cross-County competition and the Great City Games are also included in the deal.

The Great City Games are staged in both Newcastle and Manchester.

Eurosport will broadcast the 2012 French Open – Roland Garros Live, in 3D, via Sky in the UK market. 

The Global sports channel will broadcast a Live 3D feed from Centre Court at Roland Garros from Monday May 28^thto June 10^th and it will be available to UK sports fans, non exclusively, via Sky’s 3D channel. 

It will be the third consecutive French Open tournament to be produced and available for fans in 3D. 

Jean Thierry Augustin, Eurosport’s Managing Director of Rights Acquisition, Distribution & Development said: “Eurosport was the first broadcaster to present live tennis in 3D with the French Open in 2010 and this agreements with Sky will give the British public an opportunity to experience live Grand Slam tennis in 3D.  Eurosport has already committed to broadcast over 100 hours of 3D content from the London Olympic Games this summer ensuring an even wider variety of sports can also be viewed in this innovative way. In January 2012 Eurosport extended its relationship with the French Tennis Federation for a further three years to reinforce its position as the leading live tennis channel in Europe.” 

John Cassy, Director of Sky 3D, added: “We’re delighted to be partnering with Eurosport and bringing our customers live action from the French Open, as well as the first 3D Olympics this summer. By working with channel partners and continuing to invest heavily in our own 3D sports coverage, we’re able to offer our customers a fantastic array of sport in 3D this summer, with football, rugby, cricket and tennis all available in immersive 3D over the next few months. Thanks to our ongoing commitment to 3D, Sky 3D customers can look forward to a monumental summer of sport.”

The Mediaset Group has gained the exclusive broadcasting rights for the eni FIM Superbike World Championship in Italy. The world championship rounds will be broadcast free-to-air on the Italia 1 channel starting from 2013. 

The agreement reached with Mediaset, impotent Italy’s largest private media and communications company, cialis will give the leading production-based bike racing championship massive visibility in Italy, and will further contribute to its development, at the same time offering a prestigious shop window for the numerous manufacturers, teams, riders, sponsors and partners – both Italian and international – who are present in Superbike. The deal was broquered by Infront Sports & Media.

“I am extremely satisfied with the agreement reached”, declared the CEO of Infront Motor Sports, Paolo Flammini. “The decision by Mediaset to join us is evidence of the high level reached by our championship. We are sure that this partnership will help to bring about a further crucial growth for the eni FIM Superbike World Championship. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Italian TV broadcaster La7 for the excellent work it has carried out over the last few years, which has without a doubt helped to increase the coverage and the growth of the championship in Italy”.

Stephan Herth, Executive Director Summer Sports at Infront, said: “The agreement with Mediaset, as a major network in Italy, reflects the significant growth in relevance and strength that the eni FIM Superbike World Championship has achieved in recent years. In Italy, it is among the most popular sports competitions and attracts high public interest – even more as 7 out of the 24 riders fly the Italian flag. The extensive live broadcast and in-depth coverage provided by Mediaset will be of strong benefit for the enthusiastic motorcycle fans as well as all commercial brands involved.”

Giorgio Giovetti, Head of Sports Rights Purchasing for Mediaset, added: “We have decided to switch our target to a very competitive and spectacular championship, with bikes that enhance the battles between great riders and render the outcome of each round uncertain right until the very end. Superbike is a sporting contest whose value will be enhanced considerably thanks to the visibility guaranteed by Italia 1 and by the technical and journalistic commentary of Mediaset’s sports editorial team”.

The eni FIM Superbike World Championship features a high number of riders, teams and manufacturers (Aprilia, BMW, Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki), racing with high-performance bikes that are similar to those available on the market for normal everyday road use. The championship’s well-tried formula of two races at each round, Pirelli’s one-make tyre supply, as well as stable technical regulations over the years, have helped World Superbike become a truly exciting spectacle for millions of TV spectators and fans around the world.

Media coverage of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship is firmly established worldwide and is helping to align the strength of the series across the scale. Overall, under Infront’s tenure, live coverage has increased steadily since 2007 and the number of broadcast partners has grown by 40 per cent. In 2011, the series reached a cumulative audience of 460 million viewers with 3,300 broadcast hours worldwide.

Sky Italia has acquired the TV rights for the FIM MotoGP World Championship starting from the 2014 season, ed which will be offered across all Sky technology platforms, including FTA TV, pay TV, Internet, mobile and Sky Go. 

Thanks to an agreement with Dorna, the company organizing the championship, Sky will have the exclusive right to broadcast all 18 races of the three classes (MotoGP™, Moto2™, Moto3™) of the FIM MotoGP World Championship. 

The Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix, and over the last decade, MotoGP, is one of the most watched sporting events on Italian TV, in part thanks to the achievements of its most successful and popular riders, Giacomo Agostini and Valentino Rossi, as well as exciting new talents such as Romano Fenati and the achievements of Italian teams such as Ducati and Aprilia.

Now Sky is getting ready to significantly enhance the way this already well-established and popular sport in Italy will be broadcast, including the introduction of High Definition picture, as well as offering its subscribers the opportunity to customize their viewing experience thanks to Sky’s interactivity, allowing viewers to watch races anywhere thanks to Sky Go service. 

Under the agreement signed with Dorna, Sky will be in charge of providing the FTA showing of 8 MotoGP appointments. 

Sky Italia CEO, Andrea Zappia, said: “We are glad we have reached this agreement. It represents a new, decisive and important signal for subscribers who, in years to come, will be able to rely on one of the deepest-rooted sports event in Italians’ hearts. That confirms that Sky keeps investing in order to ensure an unparalleled offer by constantly enriching it. We would like to thank Dorna for the trust they have placed in us. It is a partner able to ensure the highest level of organization worldwide and I’m confident that together we’ll be able to further enhance such a great sport. Starting from now, our aim is to work every day so that the MotoGP and the whole Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix can continue to grow in the collective imagination of Italians who are already keen on a sport in which our fellow-countrymen are always getting to the top rankings.” 

Carmelo Ezpeleta, Dorna CEO, added: “We are extremely pleased about the new agreement with Sky, as it allows MotoGP to keep evolving in the right direction. Sky is a partner known to offer sports coverage at the highest quality and provides us with the best opportunity to display content across its new and varied platforms. Italy is a country with a strong motorcycle heritage, most notably with Valentino Rossi, and we firmly believe that this new partnership will aid in the development of many more local young talents in years to come, such as current up-and-comer Romano Fenati. This, coupled with the unparalleled sport programming of Sky will give another boost to the MotoGP World Championship thanks to its original and innovative digital technologies.” 

Sky’s new acquisition follows the purchase of the rights for four editions of the Olympic Games  (Vancouver 2010, London 2012, Sochi 2014 and  Rio De Janeiro 2016), the Fifa World Cup in Brazil in 2014, preceded in June 2013 by the Confederations Cup, and the Champions League starting from next season, with 128 matches to be broadcast live and in HD.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and the South African Football Association (Safa) on Tuesday signed a three-year agreement which will make the SABC the exclusive free-to-air broadcaster of the national football teams.

Speaking at the agreement signing ceremony, Safa President Kirsten Nematandani said: “Today indeed is a historic day. It took us more than 12 months and finally we’ve arrived where we wanted to be. 

“The days of blackouts are over. This ground-breaking signing ceremony is the beginning [of bringing in] a new chapter in South African football. Going forward, all our games will be broadcast live; the nation will be able to watch and cheer their national teams even if they would be playing outside the country. To us this exciting news and a mission accomplished.” 

SABC Group CEO Lulama Mokhobo added: “This is a day to smile. We’ve walked a very long way with Safa to reach where we are today. 

“Our commitment towards the good game is unquestionable. We are excited about the new era we are entering with Safa. Since the ending of the last contract, we were negotiating on a match to match basis, which posed challenges in our ability to plan adequately for transmission.

“This also caused in some instances a situation where we broadcasted delayed matches.”

Mokhobo said viewers would now be able to enjoy more live matches without the worry that they will not be able to watch the national teams playing. 

She said the partnership empowered them to serve the needs of soccer loving fans, adding that there would be no more delayed matches. 

Safa CEO Robin Peterson said the total value of the deal was in the region of R215 million for a period of three years. 

“This has been a long journey which has now reached a good destination. We are delighted with the contract, which is a substantial improvement of the previous one and will go a long way to help us to fund the development and other football needs of the association,” he said. 

The terms of the agreement are that the SABC will have all the free-to-air broadcast rights of Bafana home matches and any away friendly matches. The rights will also include Banyana matches and the SABC will be obliged to broadcast four of these matches a year; the rights to broadcast all under-23 home matches and any away friendly matches. The SABC will be obliged to broadcast three of these matches a year. 

The deal also includes a new Safa magazine programme to be launched in the new soccer season as well as new initiatives in the SABC regional radio stations.

Modern Times Group (MTG), medic the international entertainment broadcasting group, today announced that it has acquired the television broadcasting rights to England’s Barclays Premier League in Sweden and Denmark from the start of the 2013/2014 season until the end of the 2015/2016 season from the Premier League.

The rights include coverage of all 38 rounds of the Barclays Premier League, comprising matches played in close to 200 individual time slots. All of the rights are exclusive on all platforms in Sweden. The rights to approximately 280 of the matches are exclusive on all platforms in Denmark, while the rights to approximately 100 matches are non-exclusive.

MTG currently holds the exclusive broadcasting rights to the Barclays Premier League on all platforms in Sweden until the end of the 2012/2013 season, and also holds the pay-TV broadcasting rights in Denmark for the same period.

Under the terms of the new agreement, the matches will be shown in Sweden on the Viasat premium pay-TV sports channels. The channels will broadcast coverage with local commentary from all time slots from every Premier League round from August to May, as well as additional programmes featuring highlights, profiles, interviews and analysis. MTG’s Viasat sports channels are available on the Viasat satellite platform, as well as through all major third party IPTV and cable networks.

The Danish TV3 free-TV channels will broadcast coverage with local commentary from all time slots from every Premier League round from August to May, as well as additional programmes featuring highlights, profiles, interviews and analysis.

MTG currently holds the broadcasting rights to the Barclays Premier League not just in Sweden and Denmark, but also in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Bulgaria.

Hans-Holger Albrecht, President and CEO of MTG, said: “The Barclays Premier League is the most popular domestic club football competition in the world and has a huge fan base in Scandinavia. We are therefore delighted to have both prolonged our exclusive TV rights in Sweden and now secured an enhanced rights package in Denmark. We will continue to provide viewers with premium coverage of matches for the next three years in SD, HD and 3D, and on as many platforms and devices as possible. High quality delivery of the best entertainment content on an ‘anytime anywhere’ basis is what Viasat is all about.”

Premier League Chief Executive, Richard Scudamore, added: “We are extremely pleased that Modern Times Group has won the rights to broadcast the Barclays Premier League in Sweden and Denmark. I am sure they will continue to deliver fantastic coverage of the League to our many fans in both countries.”

Azerbaijan public broadcaster AZTV has acquired free-to-air media rights to the Champions League for the 2012-15 campaigns.

Two live matches will be broadcast each matchnight on the channels AZTV and Idman Azerbaijan, capsule followed by a highlights programme on Idman Azerbaijan.

All rights will be exploited by the internet and on mobile.

Abu Dhabi Media have secured a deal with Sky News Arabia to broadcast the highlights of the English Premier League (EPL).

According to the deal, the Middle East’s latest 24 hour news channel will air the closing stages of this year’s top EPL and provide the highlights of next season’s two hours after each match, with pre and post-match and half time footage available in real time.

Abu Dhabi Media currently holds the EPL’s regional TV rights. Mohammed Najeeb, Head of Abu Dhabi Al Riyadiya Channels, Abu Dhabi Media’s sports broadcasting department, said that the new partnership with Sky News Arabia will further extend the reach of the league to more viewers across the Middle East.

Apart from the EPL deal, Sky News Arabia will also provide an extensive coverage of this year’s  UEFA Euro football tournament to be held in Poland and Ukraine from 8 June to 1 July 2012 and the London Olympics from 27 July to 12 August.