David Pullan, the chief marketing officer of English Premier League side Manchester City, has left his role at the club after just 18 months in the role.

Pullan was appointed in March 2009 to help grow the club’s brand around the globe following the takeover by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Manchester City denied to comment on Pullan’s departure but did confirm the club was now looking for a replacement.

Chris Kay is still at the club as head of marketing, and is the leading internal candidate to replace Pullan.

WWE have announced a television distribution deal that will bring WWE’s flagship weekly television program, sickness  WWE Raw, to Lithuania.

Under this new agreement, a one-hour international version of WWE Raw will be available immediately in one million Lithuanian households every Friday at 10:30 p.m. The WWE Raw television franchise is an exciting mix of in-ring action and compelling storylines featuring WWE Superstars like John Cena, CM Punk and The Miz that have become global icons. In the United States, WWE Raw is the longest running weekly episodic program and is consistently among the top five most-watched, regularly scheduled entertainment programs on cable television.

“We are extremely delighted to partner with WWE,” said Liutauras Elkimavicius, CEO of BTV. “Our viewers are very excited to see WWE Raw and we’re proud to say that BTV will be the channel to bring it to them.”

Senior Vice President & Managing Director of WWE International, Dominic Hayes, said: “This new agreement with BTV significantly bolsters WWE’s presence across the Baltic region. WWE Rawairing on a free-to-air network enables WWE to expand our brand and build strong business relationships throughout Lithuania.”

by Ismail Uddin

Formula 1 will return to the screens of spanish fans after a new deal was struck with Antena 3 for the rights to the 2012 and 2013 season.

Rights holder Mediapro terminated existing broadcaster La Sexta’s deal due to non-payment, arthritis it emerged late last month.

But Spanish daily newspapers report this week that Antena 3 has secured the rights for 2012 and 2013.

German pay-TV broadcaster Sky Deutschland has agreed a deal to screen the Formula 1 for the 2012 season.

A new contract has been signed with rights agency FOWC for 2012, Sky announced in Munich. Fincancial Details were not disclosed.

“This is very good news for all Sky customers and the many motor sports fans in Germany, Austria and Switzerland,” said Carsten Schmidt, Sky’s chief officer sports, advertising sales & internet. “Only Sky customers will continue to experience the Formula 1 in genuine HD, from different camera angles and without commercial breaks.”

Sky will show all 20 races live with the Australian Grand Prix to kick off this year’s season on 18 March 2012. On free-to-air television, RTL will screen all races live.

MLB’s Philadelphia Phillies have announced a deal to have games broadcast on radio station 94-FM WIP.

They also will continue to air on the AM dial at their longtime home on WPHT-1210.

The multi-year deal includes live play-by-play coverage of Phils pre-season, regular season and post-season games.

The new agreement begins laster this month with live coverage of the team’s spring training camp from Bright House Field in Clearwater, Florida.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“1210 WPHT has a long tradition as the Phillies flagship radio station in Philadelphia. We’re proud to continue the partnership and look forward to many exciting seasons ahead,” said David Buck, Phillies senior vice president marketing and advertising sales. “We’re also thrilled to have an FM station broadcasting our games with the addition of SportsRadio 94WIP.”

The move will mean a lot of summer nights without sports talk on WIP, with the addition of Phillies games.

But WIP Senior Vice President and Market Manager Marc Rayfield sounds excited about the deal.

“It’s a very exciting time for WPHT and WIP, and this partnership with the Philadelphia Phillies only adds to the interest audiences have in these two leading radio stations,” Rayfield said. “We look forward to the future with the most thrilling team in baseball.”

Phillies announcers Scott Franzke and Larry Andersen will continue to provide commentary of the games on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT and now SportsRadio 94WIP.

Both WPHT-AM and WIP-FM/AM are owned and operated by CBS Radio.

Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) have announced today a three-year exclusive partnership with Ten Golf, ed an exclusive golf channel, dosage pills which will be launched next month.

The deal provides Ten Golf with the broadcasting rights for all PGTI-sanctioned tournaments within and outside the country from 2012-2014. 

Ten Golf will broadcast a weekly show titled “Inside the PGTI”. This show will highlight the best golfing action from PGTI events and will feature golfers on the PGTI circuit. The sports channel will also air special promos and fillers based on Indian golfers and the PGTI tour. 

“It is good to have a channel that gives exposure to the Indian golfers. It is very important to have a platform where we are seen, viagra 60mg it also helps to get sponsors,” former Asian Tour number one, Jyoti Randhawa said. 

Rising Indian golfer Manav Jaini also endorsed the partnership and said it will help Indian golf. 

“We needed a channel to support Indian golf, now it would be easier to place a face to the name of the golfers,” he said. 

Announcing the partnership, Padamjit Sandhu, director, PGTI, said, “We are excited about the partnership. In the last four and a half years we have marched ahead and grown reasonably well and we are confident that the expertise, knowledge and bandwidth of Ten golf will substantially help us to take Indian golf to the next level. 

“We are today at a stage where it is important for us to showcase the depth of Indian talent and their achievements with the support of a professional electronic medium. 

“To further grow golf, and project the opportunities and the potential the sport has, it is important to have a strong broadcast partner. With Ten Golf we see strong synergies,” he added. 

Taj Television India Private Limited CEO, Atul Pande added: , “Our tie-up with PGTI will help in strengthing the Indian Tour. We will be working closely with Asian Tour and European Tour to bring world class golf action for viewers in India and the subcontinent.” 

“We will start with live coverages of European tours and highlights of PGTI events. We will have specific contents on Indian golfers. We will work with the top 50 golfers in the PGTI and do there profiling but all this will take a bit of time,” he said. 

Ten Golf will be the latest addition to their extensive current roster offered by Taj Television Limited, whose portfolio includes Ten Sports, Ten Cricket, Ten Action+, Ten HD. TEN bouquet of channel reaches 100 million households across India.

The International Olympic Commitee (IOC) has awarded Japanese broadcast rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympics to a national consortium in a $472 million deal.

The Japan Consortium includes state broadcaster NHK and the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters of Japan.

Four years ago, discount the same group paid what is now $426 million for rights to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and 2012 London Olympics.

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said in a statement his organization is “delighted” to continue its relationship with the Japanese consortium.”

The 2014 Winter Games will be in Sochi, Russia. Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Summer Games.

Sky Sports has announced that its new Sky Sports F1 HD channel, which will go active in March, will also broadcast support Motorsport series GP2 and GP3.

In 2012, GP2 have an extended calendar after combining its Main and Asia Series, whereas GP3 will be in action over European Formula 1 weekends.

This year, the United Kingdom has a split television deal for F1, with Sky showing all races live on a pay-per-view package as the BBC broadcasts ten live events free-to-air, starting with Round 3 in China. On top of its support race coverage, Sky has confirmed that its weekly magazine show – hosted by Georgie Thompson and Ted Kravitz – will also provide coverage, analysis and discussions between races.

“We are delighted to be showing GP2 and GP3 live on Sky Sports F1 HD,” says Martin Turner, Sky’s Executive Producer. “There are six former GP2 Champions in Formula 1 this season, including Lewis Hamilton and last year’s winner Romain Grosjean. The series promises nail-biting and fascinating racing and we’ll track gifted drivers through the ranks as they aim for Formula 1.”

GP2 will begin in Malaysia, with GP3 kicking off in Barcelona.

Lingerie Football League a women’s 7-on-7 American Football tournament has teamed up with MTV2 to bring the Lingerie Bowl IX broadcast to millions of viewers this Super Bowl Sunday LIVE from Las Vegas’ Orleans Arena, Kickoff – 4pm ET / 1 pm PT.

In 2012, the Lingerie Bowl IX broadcast will no longer counter-program the Super Bowl halftime show, instead it will be broadcast in advance of kickoff of Super Bowl XLVI. The broadcast will also be shown in another 45 countries outside of the US.

Since premiering in 2004, opposite Super Bowl XXXVIII’s famed Janet Jackson ‘wardrobe malfunction’ halftime show, the Lingerie Bowl broadcast has become part of the culture of Super Bowl Sunday television viewing for millions around the world.

The success of the previous Lingerie Bowl broadcasts gave birth to the formation of a league called the Lingerie Football League (LFL) in 2009, which has now become the fastest growing sports league in the country.

This past weekend, the LFL’s Conference Playoffs were nationally broadcast on MTV2 with the winners Philadelphia Passion of the Eastern Conference and the Los Angeles Temptation of the Western Conference advancing for the second straight season to play each other on one of football’s biggest stages, Lingerie Bowl IX. Last year in Lingerie Bowl VIII, the Los Angeles Temptation beat the Philadelphia Passion in a 26-25 thriller.

Lingerie Football League (or LFL) broadcast nationally on MTV Networks’ MTV2 channel has become US’ fastest growing pro sports league, having drawn sell-out crowds, record internet traffic, aggressive expansion both domestic with (5) expansion markets introduced in 2011 and international with LFL Canada premiering in 2012, LFL Australia (2013) and LFL Europe (2014).

In comparison to popular sports franchises such as the Ultimate Fight Championship (UFC) or World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) through their first two seasons of operation, the LFL has achieved far more growth, national television viewership, attendance and business prosperity through the same period of time.