Broadcast rights for the Bangladesh Premier League twenty20 (BPL T20) cricket tournament have been awarded to the Asian sports network ESPN-Star Sports.

The deal will see all the action from the BPL T20, which is based on the popular Indian Premier League, aired across Asia by ESPN-Star Sports for three seasons beginning 2012.

The matches will be shown live on the broadcaster’s Star Cricket or Star Sports channels.

National broadcaster Channel 9 will also show the BPL tournament within Bangladesh.

BPL will see 33 matches as six teams – Barisal Burners, Chittagong Kings, Khulna Royal Bengals, Sylhet Royals, Dhaka Gladiators and Duronto Rajshahi – fight it out to be crowned champions. All the matches will be played in either Chittagong or Dhaka.

“We are delighted to support the expansion of T20 to Bangladesh by bringing this exciting new tournament to cricket fans in Asia,” said Joyee Biswas, director of programming, ESPN-Star Sports.

“As the rights holder for some of the globe’s best cricket events including ICC World T20, CL T20, India-Australia test matches, ODI tri-series between Australia, India and Sri Lanka, and England-Australia ODIs, we are pleased to add Bangladesh Premier League to our portfolio of top cricket coverage.”

Enayetur Rahman, managing director, Channel 9, added: “As the first general entertainment channel of Bangladesh with a mix of sports and entertainment, and the producer of BPL T20, we are pleased to partner with ESPN-Star Sports to bring BPL to cricket lovers and look forward to a long term relationship.”

The opening season of the BPL will run from 9-29 February. Most days will feature either one or two matches, with the first beginning at 2pm local time and the second at 6.30 pm.

by Ismail Uddin

After a dramatic African Cup of Nations final, Eurosport has secured the rights to show the 2013 and 2015 African Cup of Nations finals on its television network throughout Europe and online.

The deal includes all the Eurosport Group’s territories except France.

Eurosport has broadcast every African Cup of Nations tournament since 1994, with the following editions – held in South Africa and Morocco respectively – to be the 11th and 12th consecutive finals screened on its channels.

All 32 matches of each tournament will be shown live on Eurosport and Eurosport 2, as well as in high definition on Eurosport HD and Eurosport 2 HD.

Fans will also be able to watch all matches live on PC and mobile using the Eurosport Player – with a complete Video on Demand service giving access to the action at any time.

The 2013 tournament will also be broadcast on Eurosport Asia-Pacific and Eurosport Asia-Pacific HD channels.

Usually held every two years, the African Cup of Nations will switch as of 2013 to being held in odd-numbered years so that it does not clash with the World Cup, European Championship and Olympic Games.

This has led to a single-year gap between the tournament won in dramatic fashion by Zambia on Sunday evening and the next edition.

by Ismail Uddin

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.