FOX Broadcasting Company, the national broadcasting network, will televise the first ever live Premier League match on free-to-air television in the United States on Sunday, February 5, 2012, according to a source. The clash between Chelsea and Manchester United will be shown live on Super Bowl Sunday beginning at 10:30am ET.

In addition to FOX’s historic coverage of a live Premier League match, the national FOX network will air three Premier League matches on tape-delay during the 2011-12 NFL season.

The three tape-delay games will air adjacent to live NFL games. The tape-delayed games will be shown at either 2-4pm or 4:30-6:30pm ET depending on local NFL/FOX programming. Meanwhile, throughout the Premier League season, FOX Soccer and FOX Soccer Plus will continue to show the majority of games for viewers in the United States, while ESPN2 and FOXSoccer.tv will show many of the other games.

FOX Soccers ratings for their live coverage of Premier League games have continued to grow, while the national FOX Broadcasting Company are becoming more interested in live soccer coverage especially after considering the successful broadcast of the 2011 Champions League Final between Barcelona and Manchester United, which was the most watched Champions League Final in US history.

In previous years, the biggest Premier League match on Super Bowl Sunday had been shown on FOX Soccer. The 2011 game between Chelsea and Liverpool was the most-watched FOX Soccer broadcast of all time with 418,000 average viewers. The 2010 Super Bowl Sunday clash between  Chelsea and Arsenal garnered 403,000 average viewers, which was also shown on FOX Soccer.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is contemplating measures which will allow them to broadcast the 100 metres final of the London Olympics 2012 in 3D, as well as trialing out a new technology that delivers picture quality said to be 16 times greater than HDTV.

Roger Mosey, the BBC executive in charge of the corporation’s London 2012 coverage, told reporters on the sidelines of the Edinburgh international television festival that 3D coverage for the 100m and other events was “certainly on the agenda”, as part of a “limited experiment”.

The BBC will also test “super hi-vision”, a new broadcasting technology so advanced it is not expected to be in homes for a decade. Three 15 metre (50ft) high screens will be erected around the country so that the public have a chance of seeing the imagery that Mosey said was so good it would match up with the experience of watching from the stands.

“When you sit and watch it you really get the experience of being in seat D5 in the stadium,” he said. “Super hi-vision might be a better long-term prospect than 3D in some ways as it gives you the feel of being in the stadium. People are knocked out by it.”

The BBC is likely to broadcast the Olympic opening ceremony using the technology, which employs a single camera to capture a wide shot. It has already been tested on sports such as basketball and “big stadium events”.

Mosey added that Electronics giant, Sharp was working on an 215cm (85in) TV set using super hi-vision technology but that it was unlikely to be widely available until 2022.

Mosey did however say that the first 3D Olympics would not amount to a “24/7 service” during the Games, partly because it would mean interrupting its HD programming.

“It is fair to say there is a trade-off between 3D and HD. We don’t want to damage the mass audience that watches HD with [too much] 3D, which is viewed by a minority” he said.

BBC made its first 3D broadcast earlier this year, televising the men’s and women’s Wimbledon tennis finals on BBC HD.

FOX Sports has become the new U.S. broadcaster of Europa League soccer replacing previous rights owners DirecTV.

The three-year deal involves FOX Soccer Channel air at least two live matches a week as well as one highlights program and one delayed game. FOX Soccer Plus will also show one live match for each kick-off slot up to the quarterfinals.

UEFA said in a statement:“FOX Sports’ strong coverage commitment to the UEFA Europa League will help to further grow the profile and recognition of the competition in the territory,”

The purchase of the Europe League package comes on the heels of FOX’s recent acquisition of Champions League rights through 2015 as well. The deal also includes non-exclusive rights in the Caribbean.

talkSPORT have become Harlequin FC’s official on air media partner for the LV= Big Game 4 at Twickenham Stadium on 27th December.

talkSPORT has also secured the rights to be the official radiobroadcaster of the Rugby World Cup 2011, which kicks off on 9th September, broadcasting every game live and exclusive.

The partnership will see features, promotions and exclusive content revealed on talkSPORT both on air and online in the run up to Big Game 4.

Host Mike Bovill will be joined by some of the biggest names in rugby every week in talkSPORT’s dedicated Rugby Show, Full Contact.

Organización de Telecomunicaciones Iberoamericanas, Regional broadcasting consortium (OTI) has been awarded the free-to-air rights to both the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League in Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay and Peru.

The pay media rights were assigned to ESPN International and FOX Sports Latin America

Also media rights to the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League have been granted to Meridiano in Venezuela, STVS in Surinam and Telecorporación Salvadoreña in El Salvador. The UEFA club competitions will be broadcast on Meridiano TV 39, STVS and Canal 4 respectively.

The partners will show live the top Wednesday UEFA Champions League match, the UEFA Champions League final, the UEFA Super Cup and the first pick of the week for the UEFA Europa League. They will also complement their coverage with a highlights programme every matchweek.

All games will also be available via mobile and internet in line with UEFA’s platform neutral approach.

UEFA said: “UEFA is delighted to announce these media rights deals on free-to-air channels throughout Latin America. They will all ensure significant exposure is achieved throughout each territory and will therefore guarantee optimal access to UEFA club competitions for football fans in Latin America.”

UEFA would like to thank current rights holders SCCN, Televideo, RCN Colombia and Caracol for their valued and continued commitment to the UEFA club competitions.

 

impotent helvetica, check sans-serif;”>Panasonic and CBS Sports are teaming up to expand the 3D coverage of next month’s US Open Tennis Championships to include matches from Louis Armstrong Stadium, pills the United States Tennis Association (USTA).

CBS Sports will serve as the host broadcaster producing 3D versions of all Arthur Ashe Stadium matches that it broadcasts in Hi-definition both on Labor Day Weekend and on Finals Weekend, September 9-11.

Last year’s 3D production of the 2010 US Open Tennis Championships – the first world-wide 3D broadcast of a tennis major – was honored with a 2010 Emmy Award for technical achievement.

This year’s improved 3D broadcast coverage will include new, 3D-specific positions designed by the telecast partners to provide the best 3D perspectives.  The action will be covered by ten 3D broadcast cameras and a high-speed 3D replay system.  A pre-production model of Panasonic’s new 3DP1 handheld Full HD 3D professional camcorder (available later this fall) will be used to provide match and grounds coverage for the telecast.  And the overall court coverage will again be based around the innovative 3D broadcast camera shadow rigs designed by the Cameron Pace Group and used last year.

Harlan Stone, USTA Chief Business and Communications Officer, said: “Working with our partners CBS Sports and Panasonic, we once again expect to be a leader in presenting our sport to fans in breathtaking new ways, last year we saw the impressive production values for 3D television and now, by including Louis Armstrong Stadium and expanding our distribution, we are bringing this innovative new look to the sport to more people than ever before.”

Joseph M. Taylor, Chairman & CEO of Panasonic Corporation of North America, added: “Panasonic is delighted to again be sponsoring the US Open Championships and bringing the passion and power of this premier tennis event in stunning 3D to TV screens across the country, the tennis pros on the courts will be broadcast in 3D by sports production pros at our partner CBS, and with the USTA itself, we are thrilled to be back at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for this top event.”

Harold Byrant, Executive Producer & Vice President, Production, CBS Sports, commented: “As we saw from last year, there may be no better sport to broadcast in 3D than tennis, with our additional cameras and enhanced camera positions, including low, court-level positions, viewers will feel like they’re actually on the court with some of the world’s greatest players.  CBS Sports is once again looking forward to using this groundbreaking technology during our coverage of the US Open Tennis Championships.”

The 3D broadcasts will use a separate production team and equipment from the traditional Hi-definition broadcasts of the tournament.  Plans call two special 3D production trucks and a unique 3D-dedicated CBS Sports broadcast team. CBS has designed and upgraded 3D broadcast camera placements lower to the court than traditional TV locations in order to capture the close-up and personal, athletic dimension of tennis that make 3D such a powerful experience.

The agreement, announced on Friday, will be worth $277.5 million to the PSL with the deal also attaining internet and mobile rights. The pay-TV company paid $200 million for the last set of rights, which are set to expire at the end of the 2011-12 season in May. SuperSport will sub-licence 140 games per season to free-to-air television, with 40 matches broadcast across both mediums.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has agreed a seven-year broadcast deal with US sports TV giants Fox Sports.

The deal means that four major events from the mixed martial arts series will be carried on Fox every year. FX will also broadcast six ‘Fight Night’ events as well as becoming the new home for the UFC’s long-time reality show ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ in 2012.

Fox Sports chairman and CEO David Hill said: “This is something we firmly believe in. We’re passionate about it.”

Dana White, president of the UFC, added: “This deal with Fox will take this to a whole new level in every way, shape and form.

“This partnership is going to be amazing. It’s going to take this sport to the next level. All those people who said I was a lunatic 10 years ago when I said this was going to be the biggest sport in the world, here we are. This is the first step.” The agreement will be activated with Fox’s first UFC event on November 12, which will go head-to-head with Manny Pacquiao’s boxing bout against Juan Manuel Marquez on HBO.

FX Network president John Landgraf added: “We’re not an emerging network anymore and they’re not an emerging professional sport anymore. We’re just really thrilled to have The Ultimate Fighter. Dana and (Zuffa chairman) Lorenzo (Fertitta) have come up with ideas that are going to revolutionise it and absolutely take it to a new level.”

The deal with Fox means that UFC’s six-year partnership with Spike has ended.

Liverpool Football Club have decided to work with StreamUK to revamp its video delivery.

StreamUK was chosen ahead of international competition due to a combination of the ability of its UK-based operation to solve technical problems, the quality of transcoding and the capability to fully integrate with the web CMS.

The solution is built on the Stream Media Platform and brings multi-platform compatibility, asset management and full control of video syndication.

Liverpool FC Systems and Development Manager Michael Crowder said: “We are committed to delivering the very best in functionality and quality to our fans. StreamUK shares these aims and has the know-how to realise them.”

StreamUK will be showcasing the solution at the forthcoming Sportel event from the 10-13 October in Monaco.

ESPN today announced an agreement to supply sports venue data on foursquare’s newly launched Events platform.

This will enhance the check-in experience at sporting events with game time, teams, venue, location information and more. With the new feature, fans will not only be able to share their check-ins at the venue, but also access all the news and information from ESPN about the game.

“Having ESPN integrated into foursquare’s check-in functionality is a great way to serve highly engaged fans at the game,” said John Kosner, Senior Vice President, Digital and Print Media at ESPN.  “Teaming up with the talented team at foursquare is in line with our goal to deliver our content wherever fans are, and foursquare’s growing audience of 10 million users is an importance place for us to be.”

“Through our new Events platform, users can easily tell their friends not just where they are, but also what they’re doing, while unlocking valuable information about the events they’re attending,” said Jonathan Crowley, Director of Business Development for foursquare. “We’re thrilled to work with ESPN to provide our more than 10 million users with the most up-to-date information on the sporting events they’re checking in to.”

ESPN will provide facts, stats, and other up-to-the-minute news on ESPN-branded venue detail pages for major sporting events including NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, college football and basketball, soccer, tennis, golf, racing and more.  In addition, ESPN has launched a foursquare brand page that features Tips left at sports venues around the world along with links to relevant ESPN apps and pages.