Portsmouth have been sold to Balram Chainrai, Levi Kushnir and Deepak Chainrai after a deal was struck to allow the club to exit administration.

A financial agreement with former owner Alexandre Gaydamak paved the way for the club’s sale, which has been approved by the Football League.

“It’s a significant moment involved for everyone involved at the club,” said Pompey chief executive David Lampitt.

Balram Chainrai added: “We’re not going to make any rash promises.”

The Football League has lifted the transfer embargo imposed on Pompey, although all deals will require the League’s approval, while the club must also submit monthly financial reports for monitoring.

On Friday the club had claimed they were on the brink of ceasing trading because Gaydamak had refused to sign a deal to sell to Chainrai.

But Gaydamak said late on Saturday that a new agreement had been agreed.

Balram Chainrai, a Hong Kong-based businessman, became Pompey’s fourth owner inside a year when he assumed control of the club in February 2010 before putting them in administration soon after.

“We need to stabilise and Levi and I will be taking time to get a closer understanding of the business so that we can ensure the club is taken forward in the right way,” added Chainrai.

The saga surrounding the ownership of Portsmouth, who won the FA Cup in 2008, began in August 2009 when Gaydamak sold the club to Sulaiman Al Fahim.

Two months later Ali Al Faraj become the new owner when he acquired 90% of the shares from Al Fahim.

Three weeks after that Chainrai lent Al Faraj £17m but the off-pitch turbulence continued as Avram Grant replaced Paul Hart as manager, the club failed several times to pay its players on time and HM Revenue & Customs issued a winding-up order over tax issues.

In February 2010 Chainrai seized the club’s assets before placing the club in administration with debts estimated to be about £120m.

The club subsequently had nine points deducted for going into administration, were relegated from the Premier League and in June appointed a new boss in Steve Cotterill.

In August Portsmouth survived an attempt by HM Revenue & Customs to block a Company Voluntary Agreement, which could have prevented the club exiting administration.

As recently as Friday the club claimed it appeared “likely to close” after a row over £2.2m owed to Gaydamak saw talks break down.

However, on Saturday it was announced Portsmouth would pay Gaydamak £2.5m in instalments over the next five years and the saga was finally concluded late on Saturday when Chainrai resumed control of the club.

The club’s administrators confirmed a deal worth 20p in the pound to unsecured creditors has also been agreed.

The south coast outfit currently lie 13th in the Championship, the second tier of English football.

“We’re now in a position where we can look to move forward on a more stable financial footing,” said David Lampitt.

“This has been an extremely tough journey and the legacy of past events at the club means we still have a long way to travel and a number of battles to fight. ”

Source : BBC Sport

Jeremy Lin’s impressive performances have helped bring back pro basketball and hockey games back on cable TV.

MSG Networks and Time Warner Cable ended a 48-day impasse late Friday afternoon and reached a tentative agreement that enabled area cable subscribers to receive the regional sports networks in time for Friday night’s NBA and NHL games.

In separate news releases, both parties credited Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and NBA commissioner David Stern for “assistance (that) helped allow the parties to reach an agreement,” the MSG statement read. No terms of the agreement were disclosed, and neither company returned phone messages for elaboration.

Pressure on both sides had been building because of the recent emergence of Lin, a New York Knickspoint guard who went from an end-of-the-bench player to a national celebrity in a matter of days.

“Our office has worked diligently with Time Warner Cable and MSG Networks over the last month to bring about a resolution to their dispute,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “We are pleased that both parties have reached an agreement that will finally allow Knicks, Rangers, and Sabres fans to enjoy the rest of this season’s games.”

Games involving New York’s professional teams, as well as other network programming, had been blacked out since Jan. 1, when the previous contract expired. There had been no meaningful negotiations until the politicians began urging MSG executive chairman James Dolan and Time Warner CEO Glenn Britt to get a deal done.

Cuomo called each company’s top executives in the past two days, according to another state official. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations were private.

“I applaud both Mr. Dolan and Mr. Britt and their companies,” Cuomo said in a statement. “I thank them for being responsive to the needs of New Yorkers.”

Stern stepped in over the past two days, telling the sides how important it was to get Lin back on TV for both parties, for the league and for basketball itself, said one person close to the talks who requested anonymity.

MSG’s ratings for the six Knicks games in which Lin has started have increased 109 percent, according to the network.

ESPN had its biggest regular-season Friday night audience so far this season, 34 percent above the average with 3 million viewers, when Lin outscored Kobe Bryant with 38 points to beat the Lakers on Feb. 10.

The agreement calls for the cable company to carry not only MSG and MSG+ but also Fuse, a music network that Time Warner senior vice president Mike Angus said in the days during the blackout “is watched by fewer than one-tenth of 1 percent of the customers who have it available.”

by Ismail Uddin

HBO have announced that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will challenge WBA junior middleweight titleholder Miguel Cotto on HBO Pay Per View from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 5.

“We’re thrilled that Floyd Mayweather’s fight with Miguel Cotto will be presented by HBO Pay-Per-View,” said Ken Hershman, president of HBO Sports in a statement. “We look forward to working with Floyd, Miguel, Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions on this special event.”

Mayweather-Cotto will headline an under card that will also feature WBC 154-pound beltholder Saul “Canelo” Alvarez defending his belt against Sugar Shane Mosley.

Mayweather has fought nine of his past 10 fights on HBO Pay Per View, including his last eight bouts and, most recently, his fourth-round knockout victory that dethroned Victor Ortiz as WBC welterweight titleholder in September.

Mosley, however, fought for the first time on rival Showtime Pay Per View in his last fight, a unanimous decision loss to WBO welterweight beltholder, Manny Pacquiao, in May.

Losing Pacquiao-Mosley to Showtime played a role in the departure of former HBO President of Sports,Ross Greenburg, who announced his resignation in July after having been at the helm since September of 2000.

Hershman left a similar position at Showtime to be installed as Greenburg’s replacement, taking over in early January.

by Ismail Uddin

ailment helvetica, store sans-serif;”>EBU Retains Rights To Cycling’s Vuelta

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Cycling’s Vuelta a Espana will continue to receive substantial free-to-air television coverage after Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) and Unipublic agreed a four-year extension to their contract with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

 

The EBU has now committed to the event from 2012 to 2015. TV coverage of the race will be provided by Spanish EBU member TVE, with which Vuelta organisers ASO and Unipublic renewed their agreements last year.

“This new contact is excellent news for the Vuelta, and for cycling in general, because EBU members – which screen many other cycling events as well – offer consistent, comprehensive coverage throughout the season,” said Yann Le Moenner, Director General of ASO.

Stefan Kuerten, EBU Director of Sports And Business, added: “We are extremely pleased that the Vuelta has decided to continue its successful partnership with the EBU. This extended co-operation shows a shared belief in the importance of wide-reaching, free to air exposure for top cycling events such as the Vuelta a Espana.”

Spain’s Juan Jose Cobo was the shock winner in the 2011 Vuelta.

 

By Marc Sibbons 

The Scottish Premier League (SPL) looks set to expand following a meeting designed to improve Scottish football.

The current 12 clubs on Wednesday held the latest in a series of meetings designed to improve Scottish football.

Chief executive Neil Doncaster stressed that no format or system had yet been decided upon at the Hampden gathering.

But he told BBC: “The 12-team format is something that people perceive has possibly seen its best.”

Talks have been taking place for weeks between concerned chairmen, bronchi who privately admit that drastic action is needed to give the top flight a boost.

And, if the majority get their way, the new-look SPL will welcome two new teams and become a division of 14 and will also include one automatic relegation spot, with the second bottom side facing a play-off involving the top three from the second tier.

“I am absolutely delighted at the contributions that are being made some big thinkers in Scottish football,” Doncaster told BBC Scotland.

“They are coming to the party, they are wanting to make a contribution and they want to help with the process of reaching a consensus.”

canada viagra helvetica, thumb sans-serif;”>Eurosport and Infront Sport & Media have come to an agreement on a rights extension that will see the French sporting network continue to broadcast the majority of the International Ski Federation’s (FIS) World Cup events.

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The existing agreement has now been extended till the 2015/16 season in which the 5-year contract will include coverage of events such as FIS Alpine Skiing, Ski Jumping, Cross Country, Nordic Combined, Snowboard and Freestyle World Cup races.

 

This is estimated to be around 200 events per season in what is sure to be a significant coup for the network.

 

The new deal with Eurosport will include live TV and digital rights covered in Europe on Eurosport and Eurosport 2, as well as in Asia and the Pacific region on Eurosport Asia-Pacific. This includes the popular Tour de Ski in cross-country skiing and stages from the prestigious Vierschanzentournee in ski jumping. In Europe, a total of 600 hours will be dedicated to FIS World Cup races each season on Eurosport’s channels.

 

Online, the Eurosport Player, Eurosport’s dedicated web TV service, will broadcast live action from all FIS World Cup events acquired from Infront on six online bonus channels, one per discipline, as well as through video on demand. Eurosport Player is available in 52 countries across Europe, while all World Cup events will also be available across 14 European countries with the Eurosport Player mobile apps for iPad and iPhone.

 

By Marc Sibbons

The Australian Rugby League Commission and Sky Television have agreed one-year extension to their existing broadcasting contract, guaranteeing the 2012 National Rugby League season will be telecast live in New Zealand.

The agreement also covers the annual three-match State of Origin series between New South Wales and Queensland plus the one-off trans-Tasman test which is to be played in October.

The newly-formed commission can now press ahead with the negotiations for a new television deal encompassing Australia – a priority once the code’s new governing body came into power last week.

“With the Warriors kicking off the season with a Grand Final replay at Eden Park on March 4 (against Manly) this is a real boost for New Zealand fans,” said commission chief executive David Gallop.

“Over 700,000 New Zealanders tuned in to watch Kiwi teams in all three Grand Final day matches last year and we were always confident that we would be able to reach an interim agreement for 2012.”

Sky Television chief executive John Fellett added: “I think all New Zealand sports fans will be happy to know that we now have a firm deal for 2012 and the opportunity to negotiate longer term contracts in the months ahead.”

by Ismail Uddin

New Zealand Football has inked a four-match deal with Sky Television to broadcast All Whites home games in New Zealand.

The deal includes this month’s ASB Summer International against Jamaica and three World Cup qualifiers in Stage 3 of Oceania qualifying assuming New Zealand progress past Stage Two the OFC Nations Cup in June this year.

The Stage Three matches, cheap cialis home and away ties between the top four nations from Stage two, viagra usa will be played in the upcoming October, November and March FIFA windows, with the winner progressing to an intercontinental playoff against the fourth best CONCACAF team in November 2013 for a place at the 2014 World Cup.

New Zealand Football chief executive Grant McKavanagh said: “We’ve had a good meeting of the minds with Sky and we’ve come to an agreement over the value of, and interest in, the All Whites on the Road to Brazil.

“The most pleasing aspect is that we’ve got a longer term arrangement, which gives us and football fans a degree of certainty.”

New Zealand Football has retained rights to sell-on coverage in overseas territories and has also retained off-shore internet streaming rights.

by Ismail Uddin