NHL Network U.S. and USA Hockey have agreed to a long-term extension of their media contract that will keep the Network as the exclusive television and streaming home for the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in the United States through the 2018 event.

NHL Network U.S. will provide live broadcasts and NHL.com will provide live streams of the U.S. National Junior Team games at the 2012 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship, medstore Dec. 26 to Jan. 5. NHL Network also will televise all medal-round games and five additional preliminary-round match-ups, generic sale airing a total of 15 games in high-

This year’s event will take place in Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta, from Dec. 26-Jan. 5, and the U.S. will look to medal in the tournament for the third straight year. The last time the event was staged in Canada (2010), the United States beat Canada in overtime to capture gold.

NHL.com writers Mike Morreale and Aaron Vickers will cover all angles of the 2012 World Junior Championship, ranging from country-by-country tournament previews to daily live blogs to covering every game from Edmonton and Calgary starting Dec. 26.  NHL.com will provide customized coverage in seven additional languages including Czech, Finnish, French, German, Russian, Slovak and Swedish, for fans to follow favorite players from their countries. Game highlights and full coverage of the 2012 World Junior Championship will be available at NHL.com and NHL.com/Draft.

“The IIHF World Junior Championship is not only a preeminent international hockey tournament, it has become known as the place to view future NHL stars,” said Bob Chesterman, NHL Network vice president of programming. “Viewers will see a high level of skill and talent and intense match-ups between rival countries.  The World Junior Championship is an excellent complement to our NHL programming.”

“We’re extremely pleased to extend our partnership with the NHL Network,” said Dave Ogrean, executive director of USA Hockey. “They’re passionate about televising the World Junior Championship and I think fans will notice continued enhancements in their coverage of Team USA and the tournament overall as time moves forward.”

Sigma TV has won the last remaining media rights for the 2012-15 UEFA Champions League in Cyprus, no rx UEFA has announced.

The free-to-air channel will broadcast the best Wednesday match each matchweek on a live basis, viagra 100mg as well as the final, cialis followed by a highlights programme. All rights have been granted on a platform-neutral basis, with the rights also being exploited on the internet via www.sigmatv.com, as well as on mobile.

This announcement follows on from the recent award of certain media rights for the 2012-15 UEFA Champions League to pay-TV operator Cyta, and concludes the sale of the UEFA Champions League media rights in the territory.

NFL’s Baltimore Ravens have extended their radio and television broadcast agreement with WBAL and its parent company, Hearst Broadcasting, for another five years.

The renewal of the deal allows for all Ravens games and team programming to stay on WBAL-TV 11, 98 Rock and 1090 WBAL Radio for the foreseeable future. It also allows for access throughout the state, including Eastern Shore areas where the team has been looking to increase its marketing efforts.

Mark Burdett, Ravens vice president of corporate sales and development, said: “On behalf of the entire Ravens organization, we are extremely pleased to have extended our partnership with Hearst Broadcasting.” 

US based MMA organisation Strikeforce has agreed a new broadcast deal with Showtime that will keep the promotion on the cable network, the parties announced Thursday.

The new deal begins Jan. 7 and will feature a middleweight title fight between champion Luke Rockhold and former UFC light heavyweight Keith Jardine.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said: “Showtime has been a great TV partner for us and we’re happy to renew our agreement with them. We’ve put on some really amazing events and we’re going to keep doing that with this new deal. We have a great core of talented fighters on our roster and MMA fans are in for a real treat.”

Showtime will to air between six to eight Strikeforce main-card bouts in 2012, and has the option to air additional events in 2013. All preliminary bouts in 2012 will be made available on Showtime Extreme.

apoplectic helvetica, remedy sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;”>The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that Octagon has won the broadcasting rights for the London 2012 Games in Sub Saharan Africa.

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The deal covers exclusive terrestrial television, and non-exclusive radio and mobile platform rights.

All parties have spoken today of their appreciation of the partnership.

IOC President, Jacques Rogge, led the committee’s statement.

“We are delighted to have reached this agreement with Octagon and look forward to working with them over the coming months to ensure a comprehensive broadcast of the Games in the region”.

Richard Carrion, an IOC Executive Board member who was instrumental the negotiations, also added his own comments.

“This is a new approach for broadcast rights in this region for the IOC. Our new partner Octagon has acquired the rights and will now begin to look for broadcast partners, who will be able to utilise a broadcast feed tailored for Sub-Saharan African viewers. We will be working closely with Octagon to ensure that the widest possible audience has access to the London 2012 Olympic Games.”

Octagon have expressed their pride in the agreement,and Qondisa Ngwenya, MD Octagon Africa, suggested the network’s recent progress in the region was significant in the award.

“Octagon Africa is extremely proud to have partnered the IOC to offer our continent’s broadcasters and sponsors relevant and compelling coverage of the Games. Octagon’s continued growth and presence in three of the key economic hubs in Africa gives us unique knowledge and insight. Africa’s free-to-air broadcasters remain one of the world’s largest markets for many of the world’s biggest brands.”

Octagon’s Head of Broadcasting and Sales, Jonathan Riley, who headed up the company’s negotiations, chose to single out the similarity between the two parties.

“Octagon’s commitment to the world’s principal sports rights holders to create innovative pan-African rights and media sales models meshes with the IOC’s vision and objectives for Africa. Our passion for production, distribution and integration of media, in partnership with Africa’s free-to-air broadcasters, delivers a mass-audience platform and genuine value to all stakeholders.”

ESPN, Inc. and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) have announced a multiyear agreement through 2023-24 for worldwide, multi-media rights to 24 NCAA championships.

The deal, which supercedes the three remaining years of the current contract, is valued at some $500 million over 14 school years, according to the NCAA.

The new agreement, which takes effect immediately, also provides expanded coverage of each round of the NIT Season Tip-Off and all games from the NIT Postseason Tournament across the ESPN networks.

Under the new pact, ESPN and its networks retain exclusive coverage of the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship and broad rights covering the NCAA Division I Football Championship, plus the men’s and women’s baseball and softball World Series, swimming and diving, lacrosse and soccer championship action.

ESPN is also adding coverage of seven NCAA championships: Division I women’s gymnastics, men’s and women’s fencing, women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s outdoor track & field and women’s bowling. ESPN will also air additional preliminary round coverage of selected NCAA championships, including Division I football (FCS), women’s volleyball, softball and baseball.

This totals around 600-plus hours and 300 telecasts of live coverage annually across more platforms than ever before. It contains rights for ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN 3D, ESPN Mobile, ESPN FULL COURT, GamePlan, Buzzer Beater, Goal Line, ESPN International, ESPN Deportes, ESPN.com and WatchESPN, with many of the 24 championships produced in high definition on ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD and ESPNU HD.

George Bodenheimer, President, ESPN and ABC Sports, and Co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks, said: “We have enjoyed a great relationship with the NCAA that has spanned the history of ESPN. This is our most comprehensive agreement yet and ensures sports fans will have access to top-level NCAA athletics across ESPN networks and platforms.”

NCAA President Mark Emmert, added: “Thousands of inspiring and compelling student-athletes make it to the championship level every year, and we at the NCAA are excited to be able to share their stories with a broader audience than ever. Across all sports and divisions, our primary goal is to support student-athlete success both on the field and in the classroom, and this new agreement provides us a greater ability to do so.”

SuperSport has acquired Africa rights to broadcast next year’s Olympic Games in London, unhealthy to run from July 27 to August 12.

In keeping with its policy to go big on the big events, SuperSport has committed to broadcasting the 26-sport Games on multiple channels, including High definition, plus 24-hour channels.

Each channel will broadcast up to 14 hours of live sport daily, with the broadcast feed produced by the International Olympic Committee.

In addition, SuperSport will have four news crews in London, following South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and others, while daily highlights packages will also be broadcast.

SuperSport will also produce a special Olympics weekend show, “London Calling”, that will include special guests and athletes. Moreover, the Blitz channel will provide regular updates with live feeds.

SuperSport will also have a dedicated new media Olympics presence, at www.supersport.com

SuperSport’s Olympic build-up will start from December 16 with legacy programming, bulding up to the opening ceremony on 27 July.

Czech TV have awarded the 2012–15 Europa League media rights in the Czech Republic, cialis UEFA announced today.

State broadcaster Czech TV will show the best match live each matchnight, cough including the final, allergy as well as a highlights programme each matchweek on its free-to-air channel CT4.

UEFA have also granted CANAL+ AFRIQUE the 2012–15 Champions League and Europa League French-language media rights in sub-Saharan Africa.

Pay operator CANAL+ AFRIQUE will offer comprehensive coverage of the Champions League in the French language with two live matches as well as a highlights programme being broadcast each matchnight.

Francophone football fans in Africa will also be able to watch at least two Europa League live games per matchweek throughout the early stages of the competition and at least one game per matchweek from the quarter-finals onwards. In addition, a highlights programme will be available every matchweek.

All rights have been granted on a platform-neutral basis, with the rights also being exploited on their website and on mobile.

drugs helvetica,sans-serif;”>The agreement between BAMMA USA and 3NET and DRS will see Mixed Martial Arts Events shown in 3D for the first time via DIRECT TV.

Californian based Mixed Martial Arts Promotional company BAMMA USA is the most active promoter in the region and has hosted seven events in 2011 to date. From tomorrow, December 15th, their partnership with 3NET, an exclusive 3D channel co-owned by Sony, Discovery and IMAX, and local 3D production company Digital Revolution Studios (DRS) will see all televised Mixed Martial Arts material in 3D.

All parties have expressed their delight about the agreement.

BAMMA USA CEO Brett Roberts has stated, “MMA in 3D puts you so close to the action that you feel as if you are in the cage with the referee. You can almost touch the fighters and if one of the fighters gets hit and sweat is flying your way, you are going to duck and avoid it”.

3NET President and CEO Tom Cosgrove added that “3net is always looking to bring our viewers the most diverse and compelling 3D programming available” and claimed that “the action-packed sport of MMA is the kind of big event ‘first-ever’ 3D content our consumers have come to expect”.

DRS President Craig Tanner explained his own perspective on the deal too. “DRS was excited to work with BAMMA USA, not only for the solid reputation BAMMA USA had in the MMA community, but also because of their constant commitment to increase the quality of fighters and production value of each event.”

The first show is called BAMMA USA FIGHT NIGHT and starts at 21.00 ET/PT on 3NET (DIRECT TV channel 107).