anesthetist helvetica, ask sans-serif;”>The National Football League (NFL) have seen unprecedented amount of viewers for their opening weekend of the NFL season.

anabolics helvetica, sans-serif;”>Beginning with the Thursday night NFL season opener, viewers across the country got back to football and tuned into NFL games and visited NFL digital media properties in record numbers.

A record 107.4 million fans tuned into Kickoff Weekend games (Sept. 8-12) on CBS, ESPN, FOX and NBC to rank as the most-viewed opening weekend ever.

Three Kickoff Weekend games topped 25 million average viewers — NBC Thursday night opener (Saints-Packers, 27.2 million), FOX national game telecast (mostly Giants-Redskins, 25.8 million) and the NBC Sunday night game (Cowboys-Jets, 25.8 million) – to rank as the three most-watched sporting events since Super Bowl XLV. These three telecasts rank among the seven most-watched shows among all television programs since Super Bowl Sunday including awards shows, such as the Academy Awards, and season finales.

In addition, Kickoff Weekend games averaged 19.0 million viewers – which coupled with last year’s average of 19.5 million marks the first time in a quarter century that NFL opening-weekend games averaged at least 19 million viewers in consecutive seasons (1986-1987).

NBC’s Sunday Night Football opener was the most-watched SNF game ever (Cowboys-Jets, 25.8 million viewers). NBC’s two games averaged 26.5 million viewers, marking the highest Thursday-Sunday primetime average for NBC since the current Kickoff Weekend schedule was implemented in 2002.  With Cowboys-Jets marking the first meeting in five years between starting quarterbacks of Hispanic heritage, NBC drew an SNF record 2.74 million Hispanic viewers.

NFL digital media properties also did well, with NFL Mobile only from Verizon, having its best opening weekend ever with 46 percent more people visiting than last year.

impotent | helvetica, discount sans-serif;”>HBO has entrusted an unprecedented amount of sister media resources from Time Warner to promote Saturday’s Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz welterweight title bout, despite long-term objections from fight promoters.

For years, promoters have sought to have HBO, long the dominant pay-per-view entity in boxing, use Time Warner’s deep stable of TV networks, magazines and websites to tout big fights in the hopes of boosting PPV sales. The high-profile move earlier this year of Manny Pacquiao to rival Showtime, which heavily promoted his May 7 bout against Shane Mosley on sister network CBS, represented a call to arms for HBO.

Richard Schaefer, chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions, co-promoter of the Mayweather-Ortiz fight, said: “Everybody in this business is very competitive. Once Showtime re-entered the pay-per-view game [with Pacquiao], it put everybody on their toes, and the competitive juices flowed.”

Mark Taffet, senior vice president of HBO PPV, said: “This is something very good for the sport and developing the next generation of fans.” The Pacquiao move “clearly brought to the forefront the importance of expanding the base of the sport.”

HBO will also expand its overall coverage of the fight, running a one-hour “24/7 Overtime Live” segment from Las Vegas on Friday, previewing the event immediately after the finale of “24/7.” On Saturday, HBO will precede the fight itself with a six-hour block of boxing programming on HBO Zone with repeats of “24/7,” classic bouts and other material.

With Mayweather’s popularity and the increased Time Warner promotion, Golden Boy is gunning to break the sport’s PPV record, established with a 2007 Mayweather-De La Hoya fight that generated 2.4 million buys.

“My goal is to break the record,” Schaefer said. “All the stars are aligned here. All signs are pushing in one direction. It’s clearly the biggest fight of the year. We’re definitely going over 2 million, and from there, I’m after 2.5 million.”

Taffet took a more reserved outlook.

“I’m not getting into the prediction game, but this is clearly what we define as a megafight, and there is incredible pent-up demand for Mayweather,” Taffet said.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has dropped plans to anchor the 940, viagra 000 sq ft London 2012 media centre in Hackney Wick with its Eastenders production after months of secret negotiations.

Sources familiar with the situation said that The Olympic Park Legacy Company, prostate | which is responsible for the centre post Games, has been holding off officially marketing the centre in anticipation of a deal to house the broadcaster in a large slice of the 640,000 sq ft broadcast element of the £355 million ($561mn) complex. The talks are understood to have in part revolved around moving the serial drama Eastenders, a fan favourite, production from Elstree in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire to a home in the east end.

However, it is understood that the BBC has now intimated it will not be able to commit in the medium-term to the centre.

The BBC is currently selling its historic home at Television Centre in West London as it moves up to 5,000 staff up north to Salford and the West End by 2015. However, it wants to retain significant space for broadcasting in the capital.

In anticipation that the deal is now not likely to go ahead, CB Richard Ellis has been re-engaged to market the centre, which Prime Minister David Cameron is keen to see become the centre of a hi-tech quarter stretching from the Old Street roundabout to the Olympic Park.

It is understood that the OPLC is keen that a number of other credible bids that have emerged are engaged with.

A consortium of fashion brands backed by Resolution Property has already expressed interest in turning the centre into a UK fashion hub, offering manufacturing and wholesaling facilities to London’s clothing industry from 2013 onwards.

The BBC said in a statement: “Eastenders is committed to Elstree and there are no plans to relocate any time soon. We are not currently in active negotiations with any party.”

ESPN’s showing of NFL Monday Night Football Games in 3D have been delayed after the sports network said it won’t begin producing football in 3D until 2014 after its recent $15.2 billion rights deal.

ESPN’s plan to produce football in 3D should dismiss speculation that the all-sports network was thinking about dismissing its ESPN 3D channel, making viewers wait three years to watch the nation’s most popular sport in 3D doesn’t send the right signals when it comes to the sales of 3D-enabled TVs.

But ESPN’s commitment to shoot football games in 3D will have a significant impact on cable operators and technology vendors, in the long term. Most cable operators that carry ESPN 3D and other 3D networks set aside a 6 MHz channel for the 3D feed. But if ESPN ends up delivering 3D football in full resolution, distributors could be forced to set aside additional channel capacity.

The ESPN’s broadcast deal with the NFL is considered one of the biggest in history. To see this news click here

IMG Reliance, Indian Soccer’s (AIFF) new commercial partner, has captured Brand Value Communications Ltd as the new regional broadcast partner for the 33rd edition of the Federation Cup.

Brand Value Communications Ltd will be broadcasting all the 27 main phase matches of the Federation Cup through their channels News Time Bangla and News Time Assam in West Bengal and Assam respectively.

Defined as India’s longest running club team competition, Federation Cup, an annual knockout style tournament, will commence on 17 September and will be played simultaneously in Pune and Kolkata.

The Semi Finals will be played on 25 and 26  September and the Finals on September 29 both in Kolkata. The qualifying round for the tournament began on 8 September.

An IMG Reliance spokesperson said: “As part of our continued commitment to promote sports, and in particular football, IMG Reliance is pleased to have signed with Brand Value Communications Ltd a young and dynamic regional broadcaster, which will cater to audiences across West Bengal and the North East during the entire season of the Federation Cup.”

Brand Value Communications Ltd spokesperson said: “Football on News Time Bangla and News Time Assam is an endeavour to touch the huge base of football lovers in West Bengal and in the North-East of India and reignite the passion for the game. BVCL feels that the glory and the glamour of the game showcased at the local level will go a long way in promoting the game and encouraging followers and budding talent alike.”

News Time is a 24-hour Bengali news channel launched in 2010. The channel is owned by Kolkata based realty company Rose Valley Group Pvt Ltd through its wholly owned subsidiary Brand Value Communications.

generic helvetica, sans-serif;”>Sports News Television (SNTV) have obtained the rights for the next three African Cup of Nations beginning in 2012.

The African Cup of Nations is the international football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

Leading television sports video news agency SNTV will provide coverage from at least 20 matches, as well as news coverage, to SNTV broadcast partners worldwide, except Europe. SNTV will also provide extensive coverage from the qualifying stages, and the semi-finals and finals of the next six CAF Champions League tournaments from 2011 to 2016.

The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations will be the 28th edition and will be co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.  The 2013 games will be hosted by South Africa and the 2015 event by Morocco.

SNTV is a partnership between IMG Media and The Associated Press.

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ambulance helvetica, sans-serif;”>The New York Jets dramatic 27-24 comeback victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night, broadcasted on NBC drew the highest overnight rating in the network’s six years of broadcasting Sunday night National Football League games.

The Jets victory, in which the team rallied from a 24-10 fourth-quarter deficit, was seen in 16.9 percent of U.S. homes in the top 56 metered television markets, NBC said in a statement citing Nielsen Media Research. It eclipsed a Sept. 20, 2009, game between the Cowboys and New York Giants and a 2010 game between the Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, both of which drew 16.5 ratings.

The game was also the highest-rated NFL prime time game on an opening Sunday or Monday night in 15 years, trailing the Sept. 2, 1996, opener between the Cowboys and Chicago Bears, which was seen in 20.3 percent of homes, according to the release.

The game’s three highest-rated metered markets were Dallas, San Antonio and Austin, Texas. NBC, part of Comcast Corp (CMCSA), began airing Sunday night NFL games in 2006.

One of the reasons explaining this major leap in ratings was that Sunday marked the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 and the broadcast commemorated the event.

Canadian broadcasters Bell Media and the CBC have announced they have made a joint bid for the domestic rights of the 2014 Winter and 2016 Olympic Games.

The partnership follows Bell Media parting ways with rival Rogers Media as part of the Canadian Olympic Broadcast Consortium that broadcast the 2010 Winter Olympics from Vancouver.

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Bell Media and Rogers will still broadcast the upcoming 2012 London Games to Canadians.

Before then, doctor Bell Media and the CBC, Canada’s public broadcaster, will submit a bid to the IOC to deliver nationwide coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Kevin Crull, Bell Media president, said: “The Olympic Games are a premium property that requires a strong partnership in order to deliver the level of experience that Canadian viewers and advertising partners now expect.”

Rogers exiting the bidding process for the 2014 and 2016 Games is opportune for the CBC, which was defeated in its bid to air the Vancouver and London Olympics.

The IOC will take bids from Canadian broadcasters in late 2011 before awarding the rights package.

cure helvetica, apoplectic sans-serif;”>British broadcaster ITV and Kinetic have launched its innovative Out of Home (OOH) campaign to bring the Rugby World Cup to commuters. 

The campaign will keep fans up to date with results from the tournament as they come in overnight and in the morning and is a great example of harnessing the immediacy of digital OOH whilst showing OOH and online working together as the same feeds are being used for both media. The updates will be pulsed through to a network of digital screens in rail termini, erectile underground stations, airport business lounges, petrol forecourts, roadside billboards and the Reuters screen at Canary Wharf.

The digital screens are booked to run every Friday and Monday to excite fans immediately before and after the games on the weekends. 

Paul Ridsdale, Head of Marketing for ITV Sport commented: “To celebrate ITV’s exclusive coverage of the Rugby World Cup we wanted to keep fans up to date whilst they are on the move. Digital OOH allows us to react to the events of the tournament as they unfold. This morning we brought England team news to commuters and in the coming weeks we will show results and pictures from the games too. Digital OOH also makes commuters aware of the different ways to watch the action with ITV including on mobile.”

Kinetic is traditionally an Out of Home media agency and in addition today delivers wide-ranging specialist expertise through its complementary service divisions including Joule, Aviator, Target Health, Destination Media Group, Kinetic People, Meta, ALCANCE, Zone and Hi Rezz. 
Kinetic employs over 800 professionals across 38 offices.

abortion helvetica, sans-serif;”>Cricket SA (CSA) have signed one of their biggest ever commercial broadcasting deals following the sale of its exclusive media rights to Taj Television Limited and Willow International for South Africa home matches.

Taj Television, based in Dubai Media City is owned by Zee Entertainment, the largest Indian media and entertainment company based in Mumbai.

CSA’s agreements with Taj Television and Willow TV International cover the South African cricket seasons over an eight year period from 2012/13 to 2019/20.

The association said the exclusive media rights partnership with Taj covers Asia and the Middle East, while the exclusive media rights agreement with Willow TV international covers the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Gerald Majola, CSA CEO, said: “This is the biggest deal that CSA has ever concluded and probably one of the biggest in the history of SA sport. It amounts to a combined sum of around R1.5bn and gives both Taj Television and Willow TV exclusive rights in the respective geographical regions to all home matches played by the Proteas over a period of 8 years. It is once again confirmation of the high regard in which the Proteas’ brand and CSA is held internationally.”

Atul Pande, CEO of Taj Television added: “Taj Television is privileged to continue its association with Cricket South Africa. With one of the best cricketing management and talent identification structures and a team which backs it, we believe that Cricket South Africa will be a force in the years to come and will contribute to the sports entertainment value which Ten Sports brings to its customers in Asia.”