The marketing agency of heavyweight boxing’s Klitschko brothers, Vitali and Wladimir, has signed a multi-fight agreement with television channel RTL.

The contract agreed by Klitschko Management Group (KMG) sees Germany’s largest private free-to-air broadcaster cover the five fights that will follow Wladimir Klitschko’s world title fight on 2nd July against David Haye in Hamburg.

Wladimir Klitschko, said: “My brother and I are very happy that RTL Television will continue to broadcast our fights in future. Together we will inspire millions of people to watch the sport on TV.”

The first fight included in the new TV package sees Wladimir’s brorther Vitali take on Tomasz Adamek of Poland on September 10.

RTL Television sports director, Manfred Loppe said: “When only major tournament football matches like the European Championships or World Cup attract more viewers than the Klitschko brothers, then it is all the more gratifying to know that our successful collaboration will continue.”

Anke Schäferkordt, chief executive of RTL Television, added: “During the five years of our TV partnership, Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko have become one of the channel’s hallmarks, both as heavyweight world champions and as extraordinarily popular figures. Their boxing events guarantee great Saturday night sport on RTL Television, along with outstanding ratings.

Computer giant Microsoft announced Monday a three-year, ambulance multi-million dollar partnership with the Special Olympics to modernise the nonprofit’s technology and elevate it to the cloud.

The Azure-based games management system will enable instant access to real-time updates and athlete information. Microsoft will also provide 800 Surface tablets and 1, prostate 200 Lumia phones, here which will be used to track all events at the 2015 World Games in Los Angeles, while connecting volunteers across multiple venues.

“The Special Olympics’ goal of creating a better world by fostering the acceptance and inclusion of all people is something we believe in here at Microsoft,” said Lisa Brummel, Microsoft’s executive vice president of Human Resources. “I am thrilled about our partnership with the Special Olympics over the next few years and our opportunity to contribute both technology and financial support to help them run their organization.”

The company has also committed to raising additional funds for the non-profit, pledging $1 million over the life of the partnership in the spirit of Microsoft’s company-wide Giving Campaign.

“We’re so excited. This is going to change our world,” said Special Olympics Chief Executive Officer Janet Froetscher. “Our partnership with Microsoft is going to allow us to leapfrog into the next universe and be able to execute on our mission in a much more powerful way.”

After domestic rights for the DFB-Pokal which went on the market yesterday, June 6, the German Football Federation (DFB) is confident of a battle between commercial and public-service broadcasters.

The rights are being tendered by the DFB for the four seasons from the 2012-13 campaign through to 2015-16 and signals the first time they are being sold separately from the DFB’s other rights, after the rights for national team matches for the next cycle were sold to ARD and ZDF last month.

According to TV Sports Markets, the Federation expects to close deals for the cup rights by September, and DFB general secretary Wolfgang Niersbach told local media: “I expect an exciting competition between public and private television channels.”

Public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF, and Germany’s biggest commercial broadcasters, RTL and Sat.1, are all expected to bid. News agency DPA reports that the competition generated over US$88m for the Federation last season from television and sponsorship rights.

Public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF have the rights for eight live matches per season in the current cycle through to the end of the 2012-13 campaign. Pay-television broadcaster Sky Deutschland has the rights for all 63 matches in the competition, including those aired by ARD and ZDF.

English Championship team Huddersfield Town has entered into a new commercial partnership with sports nutrition company iPRO Sport.

Town has today put pen to paper to confirm the new arrangement, ailment which will see iPRO Sport become the Club’s hydration partner – establishing them as the official supplier of isotonic drinks.

Huddersfield Town’s Commercial Manager – Partnerships, physician John Williams, said: “This is yet another fantastic partnership that will see iPRO Sport become an official supplier of the Club, with a lot more to come as part of this contract. I am delighted and very much looking forward to working with iPRO Sport.”

Managing Director of iPRO Sport Dean Cook added: “The relationship with Huddersfield Town is a significant and strategic step in iPRO’s plans to extend into football and other sports. It demonstrates the importance to managers, players and coaches of having a genuinely healthy product as their hydration partner. We have recently announced similar developments within Rugby Union and have a presence in cycling through Team Raleigh.”

vialis 40mg Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; color: #000000; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px;”>The crucial African Cup of Nations qualifier between South Africa and Egypt yesterday, June 5, was saved for fans of the South African side after a deal was reached in the 11th hour between national broadcaster SABC and Sport Five, the French sports agency that acquired the rights from the Confederation of African Football.

The live broadcast of the African Cup of Nations qualifier was in doubt when it was reported that the French sports agency wanted US$742,000 from the SABC to broadcast the game.

If the SABC had failed to show Sundays game, it would have been the second time that the embattled broadcaster had failed to show a crucial Bafana official match, following its inability to broadcast Bafana’s clash against Sierra Leone from Freetown last October.

SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago stated: “We could not compromise such a crucial Bafana Bafana game.

“The most important thing for us is that the fans get to watch Bafana Bafana live, and that we deliver the best possible broadcast of such a big game.”

The game eventually saw a goalless draw between the two giants of African soccer, leaving Bafana top of Group G, with Egypt – the seven-time continental champions – facing the very real danger of being eliminated from next year’s finals as they sit bottom after four games with just 2 points.

National Rugby League team Vodafone Warriors has extended its partnership with hamburger chain Wendy’s for another three years. 

Wendy’s NZ CEO Danielle Lendich said Wendy’s was proud to be partnering with the Vodafone Warriors heading into their 20th year and beyond.

“We’re a local, family-owned business so we feel fortunate to be part of the Vodafone Warriors family and we’re committed to the team 100 percent,” she said.

Vodafone Warriors chief executive Wayne Scurrah said the club placed the highest value on its partnership with Wendy’s.

“Danielle and everyone at Wendy’s have done a fantastic job ever since joining us,” he said.

“We love the way Wendy’s has gone about its partnership, adding excitement through its product innovations and the way our players are incorporated into television campaigns.”

A relationship that began in 2008 and progressed to an on-kit sponsor in 2011, Wendy’s has so far promoted its involvement through a Vodafone Warriors burger, various in-store promotions and several entertaining TV ads featuring selected players.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed yesterday evening that they had decided to award the US broadcasting rights to the next four Olympic Games to incumbent rights holder NBC/Comcast who will pay US$4.38bn for the privilege.

The deal covers the four editions of the Games post London 2012, starting with the Sochi Winter Games in 2014. The first summer Games under the agreement will be the Rio 2016 edition, followed by the Winter Games in 2018 in which Munich, PyeongChang and Annecy are vying for the hosting rights. The decision to bid for the next four Games following on from London 2012 includes the summer 2020 edition, for which the IOC will not decide on a host for another two years.

NBC is understood to have committed to pay $775m for Sochi 2014, $1.226bn for Rio 2016, $963m for the rights to the 2018 Winter Games and $1.418bn for the 2020 Olympics.

The IOC’s decision to award a four Games package to NBC, which has covered every Olympics in the US since 2000 and several before that, came after two days of presentations kicked of by News Corp. owned Fox on Monday, June 6, and Walt Disney’s ESPN yesterday, June 7, morning.

ESPN announced the failure of their bid in the afternoon, stating: “We made a disciplined bid that would have brought tremendous value to the Olympics and would have been profitable for our company. To go any further would not have made good business sense for us.

“We wish to congratulate the IOC on a fair and transparent process, and we offer our best wishes to Comcast/NBC. We put our best foot forward with a compelling offer that included the enthusiastic participation of all of The Walt Disney Company’s considerable assets.”

NBC was last up to present their bid yesterday and their chances were not favoured over ESPN having been further thrown into doubt last month by NBC Sports Group chairman Dick Ebersol’s resignation, a key figure in many rights bidding tenders. The company’s takeover by Comcast and a $200 million-plus loss on the Vancouver winter Games last year were also expected to adversely affect their status.

However, IOC President Jacques Rogge confirmed NBC’s reinstatement as rights holder at a press conference yesterday evening, stating: “We are delighted to have reached an agreement with our longstanding partner NBCU.

“We received three excellent bids and would like to thank each broadcaster for their presentations. In the end we were most impressed with NBCU, which not only has a track record for broadcasting the Games that speaks for itself, but also has a clear and innovative vision of where it wants to take the broadcast of the Games between now and 2020. We look forward to continuing to build on our already strong relationship beginning in London next year.”

IOC Executive Board member Richard Carrión, who, along with IOC President Jacques Rogge, led the negotiations, added: “We had an obligation to pick the best bid on behalf of the entire Olympic Movement.

“We assessed each bid against a thorough set of criteria and believe that the long-term nature of this agreement will not only ensure fantastic Olympic broadcast coverage in the US, but also support the long-term financial stability of the Olympic Movement as a whole. NBCU has proven its worth time and again over the years and we’re very excited to continue working with them.”

Brian Roberts, CEO and Chairman, Comcast, parent company of NBCUniversal, concluded: “We are honoured to continue as the US Olympic broadcaster for the remainder of this decade. The vision for our new Comcast-NBCUniversal was to create new platforms and technologies to distribute the very best content. Every two years the Olympic Games provides iconic content for us to deliver on all platforms. We are proud to continue the rich heritage and long association that NBC has had with the IOC and I personally want to thank President Rogge and Richard Carrión for their long-term trust.”

It has been confirmed that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp Fox Sports, who began the bidding for the rights to broadcast the Olympics in the United States after London 2012 yesterday, June 6, would like to secure a deal through until the Games in 2020.

The decision to bid for the four editions post 2012, which will cover the next two Winter Games and the two summer Games after the London event, has been made even though the 2020 event will not be awarded to a host city for more than two years.

Their offer ups the stakes for NBC, the current rights holders, and ESPN, who are both due to make their presentations to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the Beau Rivage Palace in Lausanne today, June 7.

Fox’s delegation was led by chairman David Hill, who helped launch BSkyB in Britain and negotiate the deal with England’s Premier League that has transformed soccer across Europe.

Up for grabs are the television rights for the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014 and the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. However, Hill wants to also tie up a deal for the 2018 Winter Olympics – which will be awarded to either Annecy, Munich or Pyeongchang – and the 2020 Summer Games. Such a deal is expected to cost between $4bn and $5bn.

Hill told the Associated Press: “We’re going to go for four. If you look at amortization, you have to make a major investment in technical hardware.

“Anyone will tell you if you advertise that over four years rather than two years, you’re financially in a much better place.”

The three bidders are due to submit sealed bids after the presentations are completed in the afternoon and a decision could be made by the IOC as soon as this evening.