College sports Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) has announced a new 15-year television agreement with ESPN and AB, asthma a deal narrowing the divide in television dollars between the ACC and other power conferences.

The deal is worth $3.6 billion and will keep the ACC on ESPN and ABC through the 2026-27 academic year. The ACC deal goes into effect July 1.

The new deal will pay each ACC member program $17.1 million per year on average, pharmacy an increase of $4 million per year from the $1.86 billion deal the conference signed with ESPN and ABC in 2010.

The ACC’s decision to bring Syracuse and Pittsburgh into the conference last year allowed the conference to renegotiate its television deal with ESPN and ABC. Broadcast rights keep increasing as networks are in search of events that can draw large live audiences in this age of fractured cable audiences and DVR.

“We are excited to have further enhanced our partnership with ESPN through the extension of our multimedia contract,” said ACC commissioner John Swofford in a release. “We are proud that ESPN has invested so deeply in the ACC both from a resource and exposure standpoint. As we look to the future, this relationship will be tremendous for our schools, fans, coaches and student-athletes.”

Reaching a new agreement was critical for the ACC as the conference had fallen significantly behind other power conferences in terms of TV revenue.

The Pac-12 signed a $3 billion television deal last year, while the Big 12 announced a $2.6 billion media rights deal with ESPN and FOX earlier this week. Programs in each of those conferences will earn on average $20 million per year under their new deals.

The Big Ten has its own network and deals with ABC and ESPN, netting each conference member $22 million last season.

The SEC signed landmark deals in 2008 with ESPN and CBS worth a total of $3 billion over 15 years, though that deal is also expected to be renegotiated after the SEC added Texas A&M and Missouri last year.

Television rights fees have grown exponentially since the SEC signed a six-year, $85 million deal with CBS in 1996.

The ACC will continue to have football games nationally televised on ESPN on Thursday and Saturday nights.

Under the leadership of David Bernstein, treat the Football Association (FA) has launched a new tactic in an attempt to stamp out bad behaviour from fans and players by launching its own soccer club, herbal Respect FC.

The fictional side have their own website, arthritis www.RespectFootballClub.com, where fans can unite in their respect when playing or watching the game at all levels. For every person that joins to become a member of the site, the FA have pledged to put £1 (US$1.60) back into the Respect initiative within grassroots football – up to the value of £50,000 ($80,000).

In becoming a member, fans of the Club will be able to vote online to say how this money is used at the end of the 2010 / 2011 season. 

Mark Watson, a British comedian and avid Bristol City fan, has been appointed as club chairman and the club has been founded through concern from both the top level of the game and the grassroots community around abuse towards referees and poor sideline behaviour.?

An online viral has been released to promote the initiative featuring former Liverpool captain Neil Ruddock, Portsmouth legend Steve Claridge and Sky Sports commentator Chris Kamara.

Alex Horne, FA General Secretary said of the initiative: “Football fans from all clubs and all leagues have a collective responsibility to let others know that they will not stand for this behaviour from the grassroots of the game up to the international stage. That’s why we’re asking everyone, to ask everyone, to join the club and together win the match against bad behaviour.”

Sirius, the official Internet Radio Partner of MLB.com is unveiling 30 play-by-play channels that are specifically dedicated to bringing their users the official radio broadcast of every MLB team both on their internet radio app, and online at their website.

The 30 channels, which are branded with each team’s respective logo, will, for the first time, allow Sirius subscribers the opportunity to hear both the home and visiting broadcasts for each MLB game.

The move expands on Sirius’ initial play of streaming live radio broadcasts of MLB games for Sirius XM subscribers.  That move came about after the company signed a multi-year deal with MLB’s media arm, MLBAM (Major League Baseball Advanced Media), in April.  Sirius is hoping that by providing subscribers with their home announcers, it will create a more positive fan experience.

“Baseball fans have a special connection with their team’s radio voices,” said Steve Cohen, SiriusXM’s SVP of Sports Programming. “Whether it’s Yankees vs. Red Sox, Cardinals vs. Cubs, Giants vs. Dodgers, or any other game, fans want to hear their team’s radio call when they tune in.  Our new channels on the SiriusXM App and online create an enhanced listening experience for our subscribers, giving them access to any MLB team’s radio broadcast, whether they are playing at home or on the road, on the same dedicated channel all season long.  And they get it all in digital quality audio.”

UK based talkSPORT, the world’s biggest sport radio station, has announced today plans to expand to Asia.

 

Speaking to an audience of public and commercial broadcasters from across Asia at Radio Asia 2012 in Jakarta, talkSPORT Director of Strategy Jimmy Buckland announced that the talkSPORT team aims to work collaboratively with Asia’s leading radio broadcasters to deliver the brand to sports fanatics across the continent.

The announcement follows talkSPORT’s recent agreement to become the official Global Audio Partner of the Barclays Premier League for the next four football seasons (2012/13 – 2015/16). The deal grants talkSPORT an exclusive package of audio rights outside Europe for the next four seasons, with internet users across Asia gaining access to an innovative new service fromAugust 2012, offering commentary on all 380 Barclays Premier League games in English, Spanish and Mandarin.

 

talkSPORT announced its desire to work with local partners to launch its new 24 hour sports FM radio services in key markets which include Jakarta, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand initially followed by India and the Philippines, with further services becoming available in markets in China and India. According to research, 56% of the population of Indonesia express an interest in the Barclays Premier League, with 70% expressing an interest in badminton, yet the country currently lacks a dedicated sports station.

 

A similar picture is replicated elsewhere in Asia. Launched in 2000, talkSPORT is the world’s largest dedicated sports radio station with an audience of more than 3.2 million adults in the UK and was named UK Radio Station of the Year at the 2011 Sony Radio Academy Awards. talkSPORT is part of UTV Media plc, which is one of the UK and Ireland’s leading media groups which also publishes Sport, the most widely read print and digital sports publication in the UK.

 

Jimmy Buckland, Director of Strategy, talkSPORT said: “Asia’s passion for sport and dynamic radio industry makes it the perfect market to replicate talkSPORT’s success in the UK. We are excited about the opportunity to work with partners in Indonesia and across Asia to realise this ambition and look forward to announcing our first new FM radio service showcasing the best of local and international sport.”

 

Scott Taunton, Chief Executive, talkSPORT added: “Our expansion into Asia builds on the significant progress the station has made in the UK in establishing itself as the world’s largest sports radio station. Our recent agreement with the Barclays Premier League to become its global audio partner provides the perfect platform for this next stage in our development as we seek to forge a range of exciting partnerships with some of Asia’s leading radio broadcasters.”

The Ivy League and the NBC Sports Group have announced they have renewed their national television rights agreement and have expanded it to include an increase in football games, and the first-ever rights for the NBC Sports Network to televise men’s basketball and men’s lacrosse games.

Beginning with the upcoming 2012 football season and continuing through the 2014 lacrosse season, the NBC Sports Network will televise a minimum of six, but no more than 10, football games, six-to-10 men’s basketball games, and up to four men’s lacrosse games annually.

Even more Ivy League games may be seen on a national basis within this agreement as the NBC Sports Network has acquired the rights to sublicense additional football and men’s basketball games to a national sports network.

“The Ivy League is excited to continue our relationship with the NBC Sports Network,” said Robin Harris, Ivy League Executive Director. “The NBC Sports Network has been an outstanding partner and we appreciate their interest in enhancing our existing relationship by increasing the number of games and sports. We are pleased to showcase more Ivy League competition nationally to our passionate fan base which has a thirst for Ivy League athletics.”

“We are proud to again partner with the Ivy League, a conference whose institutions and student-athletes consistently comport themselves with great distinction while attracting an audience with a favorable demographic for our growing sports network,” said Jon Miller, President, Programming, NBC Sports & NBC Sports Network. “With this renewal, the Ivy League will now provide quality content for the NBC Sports Network across three college seasons.”

As part of the agreement, the NBC Sports Network will televise the annual football game played between Harvard and Yale, known as “The Game”, in both 2012 and 2013. In 2012, “The Game” will be played at Harvard and will mark the 129th iteration of the rivalry. Yale leads the series 65-55-8.

Enterprise IP video leader VBrick Systems and Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth have agreed a partnership to broadcast the Formula Hybrid Competition from the New Hampshire Motor Speedway throughout the day on Thursday, prostate May 3, order 2012.

More than 30 colleges and universities are participating in this year’s competition.

The Formula Hybrid Competition features high-performance hybrid and electric race cars built by teams of undergraduate and graduate engineering students. Like Formula SAE, students compete in all aspects of design, acceleration, handling, and endurance of their vehicle following a specific set of rules. Formula Hybrid teams are also faced with the additional challenge of optimizing both energy efficiency and sustainability of materials used in their cars.

Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth is leveraging the power of VBOSS, VBrick’s Online Streaming Service, to broadcast the event for people to watch directly from their computer. This streaming event is illustrative of how VBrick’s solutions are being used across the globe for people to communicate simultaneously with hundreds of thousands of people. Media outlets can also take the stream and embed it into their websites to stream directly to their audience.

Irish free-to-air broadcaster RTÉ Sport has retained the rights to broadcast the Champions League on Wednesday nights from September 2012 until 2015.

RTÉ has secured the premium package of Irish terrestrial rights to Wednesday night matches with exclusive coverage of the Champions League final and Super Cup, amounting to 18 live matches on RTÉ Two, RTÉ Two HD and RTÉ.ie.

Wednesday night highlights and a weekly magazine programme are also part of the package. Coverage on RTÉ.ie will include live clip rights, with rights secured for coverage on RTÉ.ie mobile also.

On the new agreement, Ryle Nugent, Group Head of Sport, RTÉ, said “We are delighted to have been able to secure these rights in the current difficult financial climate in line with our policy of significantly reducing sports rights costs.

“We’re particularly delighted to be able to continue to deliver UEFA Champions League live coverage to fans in Ireland until 2015.

“In an increasingly competitive climate securing the premium package for Wednesday night matches is a significant coup for a public service broadcaster.

“This is good news for Irish sports fans and means that all Champions League first choice matches continue to be free for Irish audiences for the next three years.

“It also means that RTÉ Sport will be able to continue to bring our viewers top quality coverage of Wednesday night matches, including the final, with our hugely popular team of pundits and presenters.”

by Ismail Uddin

The much prized Premier League football rights are now up for grabs following the football governing body’s invitation to tender for the domestic UK broadcast rights for the 2013-14 to 2015-16 football seasons.

The Premier League is offering rights to a total of 154 matches. These will be split into seven packages plus a free-to-air highlights package – including ‘catch-up’ rights.

The former will consist of five packages of 26 matches and two packages of 12 matches. No single buyer will be allowed to acquire more than 116 matches so that, says the Premier League, it can create “a more attractive and compelling offering for both broadcasters and fans”. Furthermore it says that in doing this it will allow the “continued protection of the Saturday 3pm ‘closed window’ and minimise further displacement of Premier League fixtures”.

In a separate sales process for the other packages, the Premier League will create two “near live” long form packages each containing 226 matches; one for linear and the other for on-demand exploitation, plus an Internet-based clips package for all 380 matches.

The Premier League assures that both the live and “near live” packages, rumoured to be broadcast at 8.30pm on a Saturday, will be available for exploitation on a technology-neutral basis.

The new deal is expected to see increased competition with Sky which has dominated the Premier League since its inception, and which currently owns five out the existing six packets of 23 games. ESPN, which also owns limited Premier League rights, Al Jazeera, which has netted French football rights over the last six months, plus IT firms such as Google and even Apple are also thought to be interested in making a play for the Premier League cash machine.