MP & Silva, a leading international sports media company, has announced that it will offer all broadcast clients and partners of Serie A a new weekly magazine format entitled ‘Rivals, to add to their live Serie A coverage from the beginning of the upcoming 2011/12 season.

‘Rivals’ will combine match footage, highlights and interviews to dig deep into the historical and classic Serie A rivalries that extend beyond the clubs’ shared history and supporters to the players.

‘Rivals’ will become the third weekly magazine format contained in the complementary package of programming around Serie A live rights, joining the two existing popular formats, Total Italian Football and The Serie A Show.

Total Italian Football is a preview show that offers a sneak peak at the dramatic action to come each week, while The Serie A Show reviews the best of the previous week’s action.

Taken together, the three programmes will provide Serie A broadcast partners with all the support material needed in order to offer international viewers coverage of Italian football.

Rivals will be delivered worldwide together with The Serie A Show on Mondays each week, while Total Italian Football will be delivered each week on Thursday.

MP & Silva has been distributing Italian Serie A matches internationally from 2004/05, and the whole Serie A championship from 2007/08.

Hong Kong-based pay-TV service provider Now TV has extended its agreement with Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and captured the media rights of the UEFA Euro 2012 soccer tournament to broadcast all 31 matches live in HD.

Sixteen national teams will compete for the UEFA European Football Championship between 8 June 2012 and 1 July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.

Apart from broadcasting all matches live in HD, now TV will also provide a range of lead-in and support programming, pre-tournament programmes, daily and weekly highlights and tournament reviews. Fans can also watch their matches via the now Select on-demand service and live broadcast on other platforms of PCCW’s quadruple-play service including internet, fixed-line and mobile.

Subscribers of Now TV’s new Premium Mega Sports Pack will be able to access all 31 UEFA Euro 2012 matches at no additional charge.

The Premium Mega Sports Pack also offers a lineup of sports content including Spanish La Liga, English FA Cup, Italian Serie A, MUTV, NBA, US Open, IAAF World Athletics Championships 2011, FIVB World Grand Prix and World Snooker Tour.

Tour de France teams are pressuring the Amaury family that owns the 108-year-old cycling race to share television-rights income for the first time.

Garmin-Cervelo, whose rider Thor Hushovd wore the leader’s yellow jersey for the first week of this year’s race, and HTC- Highroad showed their discontent by barring broadcasters from their vehicles during some Tour stages.

They’re normally obliged to open up team cars and buses to TV rights holders.

Most European competitors support lobbying for some of the TV income from the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), although French squads are wary of confronting organizers because they risk having their invitation to ride withdrawn, said Jonathan Vaughters, manager of the Garmin team.

Vaughters added that ASO may get as much as US$200 million from TV rights, while the 22 Tour de France teams typically have an annual budget of US$10 million each derived from sponsorships.

Vaughters said that “the athletes and equipment are our property — why should we give access” to cameras if teams don’t get a share of the television rights.

The Amaury family has controlled the Tour de France since the 1940s, and manages it through its closely held Amaury Sport Organisation. Paris-based ASO runs additional sports events, including the Dakar rally and the Paris marathon. The family shared in US$192 million of dividends from ASO between 2004 and 2008

Jean-Etienne Amaury is president of ASO, and his mother, Marie-Odile, is on the board of the company. Vaughters said he spoke with Marie-Odile before April’s Paris-Roubaix race, and she said she wouldn’t consider sharing income.

“She said she was confident they could put on a race with amateur riders from France if necessary,” Vaughters said.

Race director Christian Prudhomme said he was unable to speak on the issue and couldn’t immediately make the Amaury family available for comment.

The Tour de France, broadcast in more than 180 countries, gets about 60 percent of its income from TV rights, ASO marketing director Laurent Lachaux has said, without giving financial details. The rest of the race income comes from sponsorship and the fees it charges towns to host stages.

According to Simon Chadwick, a professor of sports business strategy at the U.K.’s Coventry University and a member of iSportconnect, the Tour differs from other competitions, such as USA’s National Football League and soccer’s Champions League, because organisers don’t give teams a share of TV money.

He said: “It’s very, very unusual that the Tour de France doesn’t share its revenue with the constituent parts of its brand. They’re adhering to a model that was first introduced about a century ago.”

ESPN STAR Sports has announced the launch of ESPN HD & STAR Cricket HD, cough | India’s first 24×7 High Definition sports channels, ahead of the start of the highly-anticipated test match series between England and India which begins on Thursday.

ESPN HD & Star Cricket HD will showcase ESS’ line-up of international sporting events including cricket, soccer, tennis, golf and motor sports among others.

India’s tour of England starting 21 July will be the first premier event to be showcased live on STAR Cricket HD to be followed by other premier events such as the Champions LeagueT20 and India’s tour of Australia.

ESPN HD will showcase F1 action from the Hungarian Grand Prix, GP2 Series and other events such as the US Senior Open Golf and Major League Baseball in the month of July to be followed next month with the start of the highly anticipated 2011-2012 season of the Barclays Premier League.

Speaking on the strategic importance of the launch of HD networks, ESPN Star Sports MD Manu Sawhney said: “We see huge potential for the HD channels in India and have received a very positive and encouraging response from advertisers and platform operators as we continue to set new industry benchmarks.

“We have a very exciting calendar of events ahead of us and with the launch of these two 24×7 High Definition sports networks, Indian sports fans can look forward to a completely new way of enjoying sports.”

With the introduction of two new channels, ESS has expanded its bouquet to five channels in India – ESPN, Star Cricket, Star Sports, ESPN HD and Star Cricket HD.

Zee Group owned Taj Television has also announced plans to launch an HD channel, Ten Sports HD, which will showcase best of content from the all the network channels.

The Swiss Superleague, cialis the top division of soccer in Switzerland, therapy has accepted a joint bid from Cinetrade and Swisscom to broadcast a complete package of matches.

The five-year deal, health reportedly worth around US$36.5 million per season, will begin in 2012.

The agreement has been met with anger in some quarters as all but one game per week will be shown on pay TV. A rival bid from Swisscable and SSR would have allowed 36 matches a season to be shown on free-to-air television.

The ten-team league is currently rated 16th in Europe by UEFA.

Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) has announced the appointment of Neo Sports as India’s television broadcast rights holder for Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand.

Neo will televise every one of the 48 tournament matches live to 100 million homes.

The deal will deliver unprecedented coverage of Rugby’s showcase event to fans in a country that has experienced a significant boost in participation since Rugby World Cup 2007.

RWCL Managing Director Mike Miller said: “This announcement represents a significant boost for the growth of the Game in Asia.

“India is one of the world’s major markets with an ever growing appetite for Rugby and the IRB is committed to growing the Game throughout the country. TV is an important part of that strategy.

“With RWC 2019 awarded to Japan and the inclusion of Sevens in the Olympic Games, the growth of Rugby in Asia is a key strategic goal for the IRB over the coming decade and this growth of coverage in India of our premier event is a major step forward.

“Neo Sports is widely recognised as a leader in sports broadcasting in India and this association will enhance our ability to take Rugby to new audiences throughout the country.”

Prasana Krishnan, COO, NEO Sports Broadcast Pvt. Ltd, said: “Our strategy has always been to showcase the best of global events catering to diverse viewer interest. We endeavour to bring the best of every sport and Rugby World Cup is certainly one of the largest international sporting spectacles. We look forward to an exciting tournament.”

The IAAF is delighted to announce the conclusion of a Pan-European broadcasting deal brokered by IEC in Sports, IAAF’s media rights agency for Europe and Africa, with Eurosport for the IAAF World Athletics Series of events from 2011 to 2013.

The agreement begins with LIVE coverage of the 2011 IAAF World Championships, Daegu, Korea (27 Aug to 4 Sep) and also covers the following edition in 2013 in Moscow, Russia (10 – 18 Aug). Eurosport expects to reach very strong viewership for Daegu 2011 and will broadcast at least the 100 hours of dedicated coverage it showed for the 2009 IAAF World Championships that took place in Berlin and attracted 66 million different European viewers on Eurosport.

In addition to the Outdoor World Championships, the deal also includes wide coverage of the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships, Istanbul, Turkey (9-11 March), the World Marathon and Half-Marathon Championships, the Youth and Junior World Championships and Cross country World Championships.

As well as Eurosport’s television broadcasting of the Athletics World Series events on Eurosport and Eurosport 2, the agreement also allows for LIVE streaming via internet and mobile devices

Eurosport, a long standing partner of the IAAF through the previous EBU broadcasting deal which expired in 2009, is Europe’s leading sport entertainment group and number one Pan-European channel.

Broadcast in 20 different languages, Eurosport reaches over 125 million households in 59 countries, including every single territory in Europe. It operates on two main channels, Eurosport 1 and 2, plus an array of other media platforms such as Eurosport HD, Eurosport 2 HD and eurosport.com

“This deal is excellent news for the IAAF,” commented IAAF President Lamine Diack, “as there are now broadcasting agreements in place covering more than 100 territories throughout 40 different deals in Europe and Africa. I am also delighted that our agency IEC in Sports has ensured a strong combination of terrestrial free to air and satellite in most territories, with all but two of those deals in Europe being with free to air broadcasters.”

“We are very pleased to have been able to conclude this important agreement with Eurosport in time to take advantage of their strong broadcast commitment and offering ahead of IAAF’s flagship event in Daegu in a few weeks”, commented Jonas Persson, CEO of IEC in Sports. “This agreement once again reflects the hard work and creativity of our sales team throughout this major project”, concluded Persson.

Laurent-Eric Le Lay, Chairman and CEO, Eurosport Group, added: “Live and in stunning High Definition, the 2011 Athletics World Championships will be spectacular, and as a preview to London 2012, promise to be the most watched and exciting event this summer on Eurosport. Eurosport has broadcast Athletics World Championships and World Athletic Series for over 20 years.  We continue our long-standing commitment to provide Athletics fans across Europe and around the world with the most comprehensive and qualitative coverage available.”

Canadian cable television broadcaster The Sports Network (TSN) has extended its agreement with golf’s ruling authority The R&A to remain as a broadcaster of The Open Championship until 2017.

TSN’s new deal includes all French-language broadcast rights and, in addition to its extensive television coverage, rights for live coverage on the network’s website, TSN.ca.

The site will have live streaming of every shot from holes 14, 15 and 16 for all four rounds, as well as daily highlights, interviews and other features.

Additionally, TSN Radio 1050 will have live coverage of the event.

Shawn Redmond, vice-president of programming, TSN, said: “With its rich history, challenging conditions and some of the most renowned links courses in the world, The Open Championship is definitely one of the highlights of the year for golf fans.

“We are delighted to extend our relationship with The R&A and give fans even more memorable moments from golf’s oldest major for the next six years.”

This year’s championships began yesterday (June 14) at the Royal St George’s Golf Club in Sandwich, England.

The Open Championship is the second major international sporting event that TSN, partly-owned by ESPN, has secured long-term rights for this month. Last week, the network announced a 10-year rights agreement for Wimbledon tennis championships.

Major League Baseball (MLB) has drawn the lowest television ratings for its All-Star Game in the history of the midseason exhibition, prostate as viewing figures are down 8 percent from a year ago.

The National League’s 5-1 win over the American League on Fox last night in Phoenix had a 6.9 rating, pharmacy down from 7.5 last year. The 2010 rating was the previous low, online suggesting appetite for the All-Star matches is dwindling.

However, Fox also said the All-Star Game was the most-watched television programme on any channel last night and the network’s highest-rated show since the “American Idol” finale on May 25.

Eric Shanks, co-president and chief operating officer of Fox Sports Media Group, said  that the All-Star Game remains a success even though it’s competing with popular cable programming options that didn’t exist 10 years ago. Nielsen Co. data for the All-Star Game dates back to 1967, when it drew a 25.6 rating.

Shanks said: “The fact that sports and an event like the All-Star Game can deliver a rating in the sevens and high single digits I think is amazing considering people are being pulled in a bunch of different directions.”

The NL has won the last two All-Star Games, having ended a 13-game winless streak in 2010. The NL now holds a 42-38-2 advantage in the all-time results and its champion will get home field advantage in this year’s World Series.