The Football Association (FA) has continued its exclusive broadcast and digital media rights partnership covering Central Asia and Central and Eastern Europe with UK-based agency Advisers Media International (AMI).

The existing contract, cough established in 2009, health was set to expire this year, however it has now been extended for a further six years until 2018. It includes all FA Cup matches, as well as select international and friendly matches played by the national football team of England, in the 27 territories covered by Advisers Media International.

Stuart Turner, commercial director, FA, said: “We are extremely pleased to be continuing our partnership with AMI. They have a proven track record in distributing the FA rights across a variety of platforms and technologies and I have no doubt that they will continue to help develop the accessibility and reach of our rights across their territories.”

AMI already holds rights for the English Premier League, Formula One World Championship and National Hockey League (NHL) in Central Asia and Central and Eastern Europe.

by Ismail Uddin

Perform is looking to revolutionise the new digital age by offering live sports matches and video on demand content via Facebook.

The sport TV specialist is to adopt Facebook’s social APIs throughout its LIVESPORT.TV platform, offering more than 50 digital sports channels on the social network.

LIVESPORT.TV channels include a range of live and VOD content from a number of sports competitions including European and South American football leagues, World Snooker, Australian Rules Football (AFL), PSA squash, Mixed Martial Arts, Handball, Darts, Hockey, Tennis, Rugby Union, Rugby League and Pool plus a number of one-off box office sporting events from sports such as boxing.

The integration will allow viewers to connect with the LIVESPORT.TV application and watch premium sports content without leaving Facebook. LIVESPORT.TV’s network of websites will also be integrated with Facebook, allowing people to log in via their Facebook account, via Facebook social plug-ins.

All video on demand content will be available for free, whilst payment for the LIVESPORT.TV subscription service will initially be managed through PayPal or via credit card, with localised pricing starting from £2.99 per month dependent on the sport. Facebook credits are expected to be introduced in the coming months.

LIVESPORT.TV says that going forward it will use Facebook’s targeted advertising to reach potential subscribers for each sport. The LIVESPORT.TV platform will also be made available for other sports content owners to distribute their live and highlights content to targeted groups of connected fans globally.

Oliver Slipper, Joint-CEO at Perform, said: “This is an exciting integration. We believe that making LIVESPORT.TV available through Facebook presents a great opportunity to build our subscriber business and increase our VOD audience. Our focus with Facebook will be to use the targeted advertising to communicate with niche fans around the world looking for special interest live sports content and use the in-built virality of the platform to target the hundreds of millions of sports fans on Facebook to share our VOD sports content and drive video views globally.”

by Ismail Uddin

Irish fans will see live coverage of the Paralympics for the first time after Setanta secured the TV rights for the event.

All coverage of the London 2012 Paralympic Games will be broadcast on a freeview basis on the Setanta Ireland channel.

Setanta Sports also confirmed that they will be showing this coverage on a ‘freeview’ basis on Setanta Ireland. This means that the coverage on the Setanta Ireland channel on satellite will be unencrypted so that all viewers in Sky homes will have free access to the channel whether they are a Setanta subscriber or not. This combined with the Setanta Ireland channel being free on UPC and the Setanta player being available in all eircom broadband homes means that approximately 1.3 million households will be able to view the games.

Present at the launch were five Irish Paralympic athletes who are targeting success at London 2012. Mark Rohan, buy Orla Barry, bronchi Padraic Moran, pills Eimear Breathnach and Darragh McDonald were delighted to know that those friends and family who won’t be able to make it to London will still have a chance to see them compete.

Brian Quinn Marketing Director of Setanta Sports commented “We are delighted to be broadcasting the games on a freeview basis. This means that the majority of Irish households will be able to follow the Irish performances. I would like to pay tribute to Allianz for their support. They are not simply a sponsor of our coverage, they have played a far bigger role than that. Without them live Paralympics TV coverage would not be seen in Ireland. We appreciate their vision and are very thankful to have the opportunity to bring live coverage to the friends, families and fans of Irish Paralympians.”

Brendan Murphy CEO of Allianz Ireland added “For the first time ever Irish audiences will witness the achievements of Team Ireland as they happen, which for Allianz, as a long-time partner of the Paralympic Movement, was seen as a fundamental need in the Irish market. By supporting Paralympics Ireland and Irish athletes, Allianz supports their quest for medals but also, through our association with Setanta, to drive awareness of the Paralympic movement and provide live, real time access to all that is achieved.”

Liam Harbison CEO of Paralympics Ireland, said: “This is a momentous announcement for Irish Paralympic sport. The Irish Team are on the cusp of great success at London 2012 and we’re thrilled that the support of Setanta and Allianz will allow the Irish public to view, admire and be inspired by the achievements of Ireland’s elite Paralympians. Paralympic sport at the top level is exciting, gripping and ferociously competitive – we look forward to Setanta bringing this to Irish sports fans.”

by Ismail Uddin

RTL has gained media rights for the 2012–15 UEFA Champions League in Belgium.

Free-to-air broadcaster RTL has secured the right to the best match each matchnight in the French language. Every matchnight RTL will broadcast one live match as well as a highlights programme on its channel Club RTL.

This announcement concludes the sale of UEFA Champions League media rights in Belgium following the recent announcements of deals with VMMA and Belgacom.

After talks were held yesterday (January 4) between representatives of all 12 Scottish Premier League (SPL) soccer clubs, it seems that plans to reformat the league are edging ever closer. Some members and fans were strongly opposed to the latest proposal of reducing the league back down to a top-10 tier but it appears that the decision is looking more and more likely.

Ralph Topping chairman of the SPL believes that the other radical change possibility of a 16 or 18-team League has been dismissed, “It’s two (divisions of) 10s or the status quo in my view. If you look at Scottish football, a 16-team League wouldn’t work economically and it would have a knock-on effect in terms of the quality of players you can attract” he said.

Stewart Milne chairman of Aberdeen soccer club revealed that no alternative to a 10-team top flight had been put forward at the meeting. “Each option has been fully evaluated and the one that delivers way above any of the others is a 10-team league,” he claimed.

St Johnstone chairman Geoff Brown added: “The meeting went well and I would be fairly confident of the two 10-team leagues. All we have had are discussions and every club can make their own minds up, but I would like to think we have a consensus.”

A vote will be taken on a reform package with the final decision set to be made on January 17 which could also include a winter break demanding an earlier start to the season.

The Croatian public broadcaster Hrvatska Radiotelevizija (HRT) has been awarded media rights to cover the forthcoming three seasons of the UEFA Europa League.

Radiotelevizija has been awarded the right to the best match each matchweek. Accordingly, order HRT will broadcast on its channel HRT2 one live match as well as a highlights programme every matchweek.

Marine motorsport series Powerboat P1 SuperStock UK and P1 AquaX championships will be viewed by more people than ever before after they agreed a new deal with television production and distribution company Greenlight TV.

The Isle of Man and Manchester-based producers will bring Powerboat P1’s UK series onto screens in more than 30 countries around the world, including major population centres such as China, India and Russia, when the season starts next month.

Dedicated P1 SuperStock programmes will be shown in the UK on Sky Sports HD, with additional coverage through magazine shows on Channel 5, Sky Sports HD and ESPN UK to give a estimated total of more than 3,000 broadcast minutes.

Greenlight TV is planning to enhance the coverage through the use of more on-board cameras.  The popular webisodes will again be shown on www.p1superstock.co.uk which already carries almost 30 edits from the 2011 race season.

P1 AquaX coverage will be boosted by a new end-of-season review programme on a number of channels including Sky Sports HD. Each round will have its own webisode specially produced by Greenlight TV and shown online via www.p1aquax.com

“High quality television coverage is essential to the development of our two championships, and the enhanced production capability with more on-board cameras and the extended distribution will benefit everyone involved in the series” said P1 commercial director James Durbin.

by Ismail Uddin

Falling attendances are a concern to, English soccer team, Sunderland’s chairman Niall Quinn who has stated that the revenue lost may impact on manager Steve Bruce’s budget.

Last time out Sunderland beat Bolton 1-0 at the club’s home venue, the Stadium of Light, though only 35,000 fans were in attendance, 14,000 below capacity. The crowd would have been effected significantly by the bitterly cold temperatures but the lunch time kick-off hosted 3,000 fewer than the club’s average attendance sparking a concerned reaction.

Quinn told the Sunderland Echo: “It would be a shame to start downsizing.

“I wouldn’t be doing my job if I recommended that we should be paying big sums for players and the people weren’t supporting the club.”

“I thought if we were in the top half of the Premier League, we would be getting crowds well into the 40,000s, but the reality is we are in the mid-30s,” Quinn continued.

“The plan was always to improve and while we are doing that on the pitch, off the pitch the lifeblood of the club is just starting to get to a worrying area.

“I am not having a go at people who are economically challenged, but I know there are friends of mine who say it’s easier to go to the pub and have a few drinks with their mates and walk home afterwards. But these games are shown illegally.

“I don’t want to alarm people but, for me, there are a few question marks.

“I’m not saying we are perfect, but I always thought I could rely on the support of a massive crowd.”

FOX Sports Media Group (FSMG), sale has reached a multi-year, multi-media agreement with Golden Boy Promotions to provide live boxing content in the United States and internationally.

Golden Boy Promotions, mind owned by renowned former Ten-Time World Champion Oscar de la Hoya, is the first Hispanic-owned boxing promotional company in America doing business domestically and internationally. 

Domestically, Golden Boy fights will be carried on FOX Deportes, the leader in U.S. Latino sports media, on FOX Sports regional networks, the nation’s leading provider of local sports and FUEL TV, FSMG’s dynamic sports network for males and television’s fastest-growing cable network. One originally produced boxing event per month from the United States airs live on FOX Deportes, FUEL TV and FOX Sports regional networks. Additionally, live boxing events from cities throughout Mexico will be carried on FOX Deportes.

The first U.S. event is scheduled for Friday, May 4 (11:00 PM ET/8:00 PM PT), live from The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and features an all-Mexican battle between former World Champion Daniel Ponce De Leon of Cuauhtemoc and Juarez’s Eduardo “El Chucky” Lazcano in a 12-round main event for the vacant WBC USNBC Super Featherweight title and, in the co-feature, perennial contender and Las Vegas favorite Ishe “Sugar Shay” Smith facing Derrick Ennis in a 10-round junior middleweight bout. 

During the first year of the partnership, FOX Deportes is scheduled to air a total of 44 live events originating in both the United States and Mexico; for every year thereafter, the network airs 36 live events. In addition, FSMG networks gain access to classic fights from the Golden Boy fight library which features fights of past and current world champions such as Oscar de la Hoya, Bernard Hopkins, Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera. 

“Led by the incomparable Oscar de la Hoya, Golden Boy Promotions has developed a great reputation over the last few years for putting together very exciting cards,” said Bill Wanger, Executive Vice president, Programming & Research, FOX Sports Media Group. “It’s great that we’ve been able to establish what we hope will be a fruitful relationship that benefits multiple networks within the FOX Sports Media Group for years to come.” 

Oscar de la Hoya, President of Golden Boy Promotions, added: “We are excited about our new partnership with FOX Sports Media Group. This is another step in ensuring that fight fans around the world don’t miss out on any of the great boxing action we present, both in the United States and Mexico. It’s a very important move towards increasing viewership and knowledge of our great sport. We are thrilled about this new partnership.” 

by Ismail Uddin

The British Olympic Association (BOA) is clashing with some of the British home soccer bodies over the selection of non-English players for the London 2012 Olympics.

The Football Association of Wales (FAW) reiterated that Welsh players, such as Tottenham star Gareth Bale, would risk suspension if they take part in London 2012 just days ago. BOA Chief Executive, Andy Hunt told insidethegames that “our selection policy has to comply with the Olympic Charter”.

He reiterated that the “possibility of practising sport without discrimination of any kind” must be available: “We cannot have an explicit agreement that excludes non-English players from the team if they have expressed a wish to be selected”.

In a recent interview Bale, one of the players who would be widely expected to join up with a probable strong English contingent in a GB team, stated that “I would love to play in the Olympics, especially as it would be a part of a Great Britain team.”