Hockey East, NCAA Men’s Division 1 Ice Hockey League has secured the services of NBC who will broadcast a selection of the league’s games on its soon-to-be-rebranded Versus channel.

Included in the package are three regular-season games, one tournament quarterfinal game, both semifinals and the league championship game. The games are part of the network’s renovation of Versus, which will become NBC Sports Network on Jan. 2.

Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna said in a statement: “This agreement will play a major role in our ability to stay in a leadership position in our sport.”

Hockey East’s games are part of a 16-game college hockey package Versus/NBC will broadcast this season. The first game to be broadcast will be a New Year’s Eve tilt in South Bend, Ind., between Boston University and Notre Dame, which joins the league in 2013.

BU will play two games on the network, as will Vermont. Boston College visits Vermont in an NBC game on Friday, Feb. 10.

NBC Sports Group president of programming Jon Miller in a statement: “We are excited to be launching our first-ever college hockey package by building a destination on Friday nights on the NBC Sports Network with many of the preeminent brands in the sport.”

Euroleague Basketball has renewed its deal with American broadcaster NBA TV bringing Europe’s premier league action to North Ameica for the current season.

The new deal means that NBA TV will broadcast one game per week to North American viewers, with a choice between the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Game of the Week or exclusive North American rights to a different game.

Andrea Bassani, Euroleague Basketball’s Chief of Television and New Media Rights Officer, said: “We are pleased that the Turkish Airlines Euroleague will continue to be seen by basketball fans in the United States and Canada through NBA TV. NBA TV is a favorite among basketball fans and television viewers in North America and our continued cooperation with them will help basketball-loving fans in America see the unique nature of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague.”

ESPN have extended their agreement with the National Hockey League for English-language coverage of the NHL on the sports media company’s ESPN America network across more than 35 countries in Europe, bronchi as well as sub-Saharan Africa.

The agreement will mean that ESPN America – which reaches nearly 19 million homes – will continue its coverage of the NHL, ailment televising as many as six live games per week, as well as coverage throughout the NHL’s Stanley Cup Playoffs and the entire Stanley Cup Finals.  In total, fans throughout Europe will see more than 100 games during the season, including the NHL All-Star Game and the NHL Winter Classic, with authentic and authoritative coverage and commentary direct from the US and Canada.  ESPN networks in sub-Saharan Africa will also continue coverage of the NHL.

ESPN’s news and information programmes, including the five-days-a-week edition of Sports Center will continue to feature highlights from NHL action and provide one-of-a-kind commentary and analysis from ESPN’s Barry Melrose and Matthew Barnaby.

John Collins, chief operating officer of the NHL, said: “ESPN America and AMI/Medge are strong partners and we’re pleased to have reached an agreement that will bring the NHL to important countries where we can both serve avid hockey fans and win over new ones. It’s a continuation of our growth plan overseas, and a terrific complement to our distribution deals already in place.”

Jeroen Oerlemans, vice president and head of channels, ESPN – Europe, Middle East and Africa, : “We’re very excited about continuing coverage of the NHL on ESPN America for millions of sports fans across Europe.  We know that hockey has a passionate and loyal following and we will continue to serve them with great games and coverage.”

The deal covers all countries in which ESPN America is available across continental Europe and Turkey, excluding the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.  The agreement also includes local language rights in some markets. In Africa, ESPN networks across sub-Saharan Africa will feature the NHL, including ESPN in South Africa and Nigeria on the leading television platform, DSTV/Multichoice.

Coverage will begin on ESPN networks from 8 November.

The National Hockey League (NHL) announced today that it has signed nine more broadcast partners that will provide live game coverage of the NHL in countries across Europe, discount the Middle East and Africa.

Broadcaster Nova Sports secured the rights in Czech Republic and Slovakia, illness  Premier Sports and Setanta in UK, arthritis ESPN America in Pan European and Sub Saharan countries, Sport TV in Portugal, Canal Plus Sports in France, Switzerland & other French speaking nations and Fox Sports has gained the rights in the Middle East (TURKEY, CYPRUSand ISRAEL).

These agreements follow the recent landmark distribution partnership between the NHL and MTG to provide live coverage of all 1,230 regular-season games as well as every Stanley Cup Playoff game via television, mobile and broadband throughout the Nordic region, including Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway.

It also comes a day after iSportconnect reported ESPN America had secured a broadcasting deal for most of Europe.

John Collins, NHL chief operating officer, said: “Hockey is a global sport, with more than 25 percent of our players hailing from countries outside of North America. Through these new distribution partners, our local-language websites which launched overseas at the start of the season and our digital streaming game product NHL GameCenter Live, we are making it easier for our passionate international fan base to follow their favorite teams and players as well as the Stanley Cup Playoffs.”

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has once again reduced its broadcasting portfolio after securing a deal with pay-TV broadcaster ESPN to jointly air the 2012 British Darts Organisation (BDO) World Professional Darts Championships in January.

ESPN has reached an agreement with BDO, the sport’s governing body, and BBC Sport to split coverage, with former BBC presenter Ray Stubbs lined up to anchor its output.

The sports broadcaster has secured the live and exclusive rights to the evening darts sessions of the tournament running from 9-13 January.

ESPN got its first taste of darts last month with the broadcasting of the 2011 Winmau World Masters. At the World Champs they will air one semi-final exclusively and highlights of the final, which take place on 14 and 15 January respectively.

The BBC will hold on to live and exclusive coverage of afternoon sessions on the opening weekend – 7 and 8 January – and run extended afternoon highlights on the four days following that, as well as a late-night highlights show on BBC2.

Come finals weekend the BBC, which uses presenter Colin Murray and former darts player Bobby George, will air one semi final and the final exclusively.

Commentary for both broadcasters will come from David Croft and Tony Green.

ESPN has also struck its first deals to air live golf and tennis programming in a bid to move into weekday daytime sports and build its sport portfolio beyond predominantly football and rugby.

The US broadcaster will air eight days of live coverage from the Australian PGA Championship and the Emirates Australian Open, both of which are held later this month.

ESPN will also broadcast the BNP Paribas Showdown next March, live from Madison Square Garden in New York, which is due to feature players including Maria Sharapova and Roger Federer.

This will be considered another blow for the BBC who last week had the French Open tennis rights taken away from them by ITV as their cost cutting continued. They also now will jointly broadcast the Formula One with Sky until 2018.

The only bright spot in the last few weeks for the corporation is their deal to keep the exclusive rights of grand slam tennis tournament Wimbledon until 2017.

Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR have acquired the Swiss media rights for the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championship 2012 to 2017 through Infront Sports & Media.

Infront Sports & Media, longtime marketing partner of the IIHF licensed the rights to SRG SSR. The IIHF World Championship is the annual highlight in international ice hockey and one of the biggest winter sports events worldwide.

The extended agreement between Infront and the SRG includes all IIHF World Championships until 2017, including the tournaments in Finland and Sweden (co-hosts for 2012 and 2013), Belarus (2014), Czech Republic (2015) and Russia (2016). SRG has been the national television partner of the IIHF World Championship for more than 20 years, starting with the 1989 tournament in Sweden. Since then, the corporation has transmitted every edition of the championship on its media channels, including this year’s tournament in Slovakia.

The contract with Infront includes the exclusive rights to broadcast all 64 games of the IIHF World Championship and allows the SRG to distribute the licensed content via free-TV, radio, internet and mobile networks in Switzerland. Infront, in close cooperation with the IIHF will continue to provide high-quality TV pictures and media services for the SRG coverage. Since 2009, the IIHF World Championship has been produced in full HD quality with 20 cameras per game guaranteeing in-depth sports coverage and dynamic reporting from every angle.

Urs Leutert, Head of Sport SRG / SRF, added: “As a longstanding partner of the IIHF World Championship, the SRG will offer ice hockey a media platform through to 2017, which accounts for the sport’s importance in Switzerland. Thanks to the high standards Infront attaches to the production of the TV signal, and the in-depth coverage of the SRG editors, Swiss viewers can look forward to first-class ice hockey pictures, great action and all the excitement of the sporting experience.”

Bruno Marty, Infront’s Executive Director Winter Sports added: “Switzerland is a proven hockey nation, the agreement with SRG guarantees that the many Swiss fans will continue to receive comprehensive coverage of this top annual event over the next six years. We are delighted to have once again secured the national free-to-air broadcaster to work with us in Switzerland, the IIHF and Infront home-land. The SRG will provide a diverse range of coverage for the IIHF World Championship across a full range of media platforms.”

US-based media company, therapy Media World, unhealthy have acquired the exclusive rights of television and radio for the next matches of the Haitian Football Federation (FHF) team in their qualifying attempt for the 2014 Brazil World Cup, allergist  

FHF announced that the media and national bodies will not broadcast any live or the next matches of the national team at Sylvio Cator Stadium without prior agreement with Media World. In return the international firm will cover travel expenses of the national team of Haiti.

The contract, which amount to $125,000 dollars, covering the first phase of the qualifications of Haiti for the Football World Cup 2014 in Brazil.

The Federation states that “Radio and TV rights for the World Cup belongs to FIFA, which in turn yields to the national associations that can negotiate with production companies.”

Haitian Football Federation recalled the mission of the federations and FIFA have a duty and obligation to ensure respect for and protection of official broadcasters.

November 11 on the road and at home on November 15, Haiti will face in Antigua and Barbuda to seek qualification for the next round of qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup in 2014 in Brazil.

After awarding the US media rights last week, FIFA has continued to sell rights after agreeing three deals which has secured more than $1.85 billion for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Soccer’s ruling body extended agreements with SBS in Australia and IMC in the Caribbean region, while Bell Media was selected in Canada, the Zurich-based organization said in a statement today.

The World Cup is FIFA’s main source of income, with last year’s tournament in South Africa bringing in about $4 billion.

Secretary General Jerome Valcke said in the statement: “FIFA is delighted with the progress of our media rights sales to date which, coming amid austere economic times, more than confirm the strength and appeal of our competitions.” .

Last week, News Corp’s Fox was awarded the English-language rights in the U.S. to the tournaments scheduled for Russia and Qatar and other events between 2015 and 2022. Telemundo, part of Comcast Corp.’s NBC Universal unit, has the Spanish-language rights.

Business Daily said Fox is paying $450 million to $500 million, as much as five times more than Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN paid for the current cycle which culminates with the 2014

English TV network, ITV have won the rights to broadcast the French Open in the UK taking away the rights from rival network BBC.

ITV’s first ever live coverage of one of the big four grand slam tennis tournaments will be broadcast from 2012, as part of a three-year deal.

ITV1 will show the men’s and women’s finals from the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, along with live coverage of two other matches during the two-week tournament.

Digital channel ITV4 and ITV.com will broadcast about six hours’ coverage of each day’s play along with highlights.

ITV has secured the UK free-to-air rights to the tournament. Eurosport previously held UK pay-TV rights, with a new deal pending.

The ITV controller of sport, Niall Sloane, said: “It’s the first time that a grand slam has been shown live on ITV and with around six hours of coverage over each day of the tournament we’ll be offering viewers more free-to-air coverage of the tournament than ever before.”

The BBC may not be too aggrieved with the loss of the French Open having renewed a deal for the broadcast rights to Wimbledon yesterday.

The BBC have had to cut back after their budget was reduced. This has led to the BBC only showing half the F1 races live, with Sky broadcasting every grand prix plus qualifying sessions.

The BBC has also lost live TV rights to the Paralympics and IAAF World Athletics Championships (both to Channel 4) and the US Masters golf tournament (to Sky).

Basketball’s Euroleague will have expanded coverage in the UK after they agreed a deal with ESPN for more coverage in the UK and Ireland including a weekly game.

The channel will broadcast an ESPN Game of the Week during the opening round, plus the Top 16, the play-offs and the 2012 Turkish Airlines Final Four in Istanbul next May.

Jeroen Oerlemans, Vice-President TV Channels, ESPN EMEA, said: “The Euroleague on ESPN is set to bring basketball fans in Europe some of the biggest names in the sport this season. By bringing UK-based fans this season’s competition, we’re continuing to broaden the range of our line-up of sports from around the world.”

The Euroleague has gained a higher profile world-wide this season with NBA exports such as Andrei Kirikenko and Serge Ibaka switching overseas during the lockout. While British star Joel Freeland is taking a major role for Malaga.

Andrea Bassani, Euroleague Basketball’s Chief of Television, added: “By expanding our relationship with ESPN UK, we are confident that basketball fans throughout the UK will get the best service possible when it comes to seeing the Turkish Airlines Euroleague.”