An extension of a broadcast rights deal between Tennis Channel, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and United States Tennis Association (USTA) has been agreed for exclusive rights to the Davis Cup, Fed Cup and Hopman Cup competitions.

Coverage of the American team’s matches in the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas – the most prestigious tournament for national teams in men’s professional tennis – will be carried on the pay-TV channel for the next three-years.

Tennis Channel will also retain the rights to all other matches in all three competitions until at least 2015, and will have access to ITF highlights packages as well as archive footage from past tournaments.

David Scott, vice president of programming for Tennis Channel, said: “Tennis Channel viewers have always been passionate about Davis Cup, Fed Cup and Hopman Cup, which feature so many of the game’s elite playing for something bigger than personal glory.”

The first 10 matches of the International Cricket World Cup (ICC) World Cup which began last month have delivered and average rating of 2.6 TVR (television viewer ratings), up 2.4 TVR for the previous 2007 edition of the quadrennial tournament.

The matches, including the opener between South Asian rivals India – Bangladesh and Sri Lanka – Pakistan have been the most watched games delivering ratings of 7.47 and 3.28 TVR respectively.

According to data released by ratings agency Tam for CS 4+ TG, the India – Bangladesh was sampled by more than 76 million viewers, while the Sri Lanka – Pakistan game attracted more than 51 million viewers on Star Cricket, ESPN, Star Sports and DD1 together.

By the end of match 10, the World Cup had been sampled by a record 127 million individuals, or 64 per cent of the total audience in the country. 

Except for two matches, New Zealand -Australia (0.68 TVR) and New Zealand – Kenya (0.63 TVR), the rest of the games got a viewership of more than 1 TVR.

The remaining games between the West Indies – South Africa and England – Netherlands delivered similar ratings of 1.68 TVR. Both the matches were sampled by more than 40 million viewers respectively. Some of the one-sided contests like Sri Lanka – Canada and Pakistan – Kenya also managed good ratings of 1.36 and 1.41 TVR.

Average ratings for the first 10 matches of the 2007 World Cup was 2.4 TVR with India-Bangladesh and Pakistan-West Indies match being the two most watched game with a rating of 8.85 and 3.66 TVR respectively.

Commenting on the ratings, ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd EVP-Ad Sales & New Media Sanjay Kailash said, “The ratings for the non-India matches are very healthy and point towards increasing viewer interest in the tournament as a whole. We expect the trend to continue as the tournament progresses towards the second phase as teams get into top gear to qualify for the knock-out stages.”

Indian Super League (ISL) franchise FC Goa announced that it has signed on six brands as sponsors and partners for the team.

Joining Videocon d2h as FC Goa’s principal sponsor is Usha International. Ponds, health Gardre Marine and Kenstar who will be associate sponsors.

A few days ago, the official kit sponsor for the team, adidas unveiled the Adidas team kit at the launch of the team. While Wockhardt Hospitals is the official medical partner, Big FM will be the official radio partner and The Navhind Times, the official print partners.

Speaking on the brands coming on board, the promoters of the team said: “Leading brands from various industry verticals have partnered with FC Goa and have placed their faith in the team. We are happy to have them onboard.”

UK broadcaster ITV reported a near trebling in annual profits yesterday, March 2, hailing a successful World Cup as well as a strong line-up of programmes, particularly in the final quarter as the secret to their success.

 

However, ITV1’s share of viewing dropped in 2010 despite the autumn boost and the company gave a cautious outlook for the year ahead as it fears the impact of tough comparatives and an uncertain wider economy.

The group confirmed an ITV1 network programme budget of around US$1.3bn in 2011, which is down on the $1.33bn in 2010 due to the expense of the World Cup coverage.

 

ITV posted underlying pre-tax profits of $522m for 2010, up from $175.7m in 2009, and said it outperformed a resurgent television advertising market.

 

Total revenues rose 10 per cent to $3,357.5m, from $3,056.5m over the same period last year, while net debt was cut to $305.9m, from $995.8m.

 

It has been revealed that the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup, herbal the Asean top national team football competition, sale saw a record 192 million viewers in key Asean markets tune in.

The audience, which represents ratings on broadcasters RCTI in Indonesia, RTM in Malaysia, ABS-CBN in the Philippines, MediaCorp in Singapore, BBTV in Thailand, VTV in Vietnam and ESPN Star Sports’ regional platform saw a 32 per cent increase from the previous edition.

The two final leg matches between Indonesia and Malaysia in particular saw ratings rocket. According to Nielsen, an average of 15 million Indonesians watched both games on RCTI, more than twice the number of the highest-rated FIFA World Cup 2010 match in the country.

In Malaysia, national free-to-air broadcaster RTM recorded shares of 40.3 per cent and 48.4 per cent respectively for each of the two final leg matches. The total audience reached in the territory saw an eight-fold increase from the previous edition of the tournament.

Vietnam delivered the second largest viewership market after Indonesia with a total audience of 74.5 million. The event also received significant following on internet and social media platforms.  Nearly two million fans visited the event’s official website affsuzukicup.com while 193,172 fans interacted with each other through the event’s Facebook page.

The University of New Mexico have announced that U.S. Bank donated $1.7 million for the naming rights to a trio of premium seating areas at the pit for the next eight years. 

Friday’s donation is the second largest gift ever made to UNM Athletics. On Thursday KRQE News 13 reported UNM has been shopping its naming rights for The Pit for the past five years.

“U.S. Bank strives to be a good corporate citizen in all the markets that we serve, order ” said Paul DiPaola, New Mexico Regional President for U.S. Bank.  “U.S. Bank has been a long-time supporter of the University of New Mexico, Lobo Athletics and students, faculty, customers and members of the community who support the teams. We are excited about our expanded relationship.”

UK watchdog Ofcom has relaxed its rules on the time allotted for commercial breaks during the programming of televised sport, herbal meaning advertising options have increased.

All major commercial channels will now be permitted to show 12 minutes of advertising per hour, physician a significant increase from 7 minutes per hour for certain broadcasts. In turn this will cause longer interruptions for the viewing public when watching televised sporting events.

Commercial breaks will now make up around 20 per cent of the running time of an individual programme, here despite research proving viewers’ dislike of commercial breaks

Ofcom’s decision comes to appease cash-strapped media channels’ desire to drive increased advertising revenues to pay for programming.

However with new technology and innovations such as Sky-Plus enabling an increasing number of viewers to edit out the adverts altogether, the move by Ofcom is unlikely to quell the calls to relax the rules on product placement within programming itself.

Energy drinks supplier Monster Energy has signed a new multi-year sponsorship deal with the FIM Speedway World Championships rights holders who remain as presenting sponsor of the FIM Speedway Grand Prix (SGP) series and title sponsor of the Monster Energy FIM Speedway World Cup (SWC).

The global energy drinks brand will continue to have a huge presence at the 12 SGP rounds and four Monster Energy SWC events as they play a key role in taking speedway to new audiences.

Since the beginnings of their association with the FIM Speedway World Championships, drugs that commenced with sponsorship of American star Greg Hancock, medstore Monster Energy have been committed to providing speedway fans with the ultimate experience of the sport.

BSI Speedway managing director Paul Bellamy commented: “Monster Energy has been a great supporter of the sport, the SGP series and Monster Energy SWC. I’m really looking forward to progressing this relationship and taking the sport to greater heights.

“They have added so much to the overall fan experience on and off the track as we work to ensure an SGP event is much more than just 23 heats of racing. It’s about putting on a great show.

“Our partnership is one that has benefitted both the sport and Monster Energy – exposing both to each other’s loyal fans.

“This deal is great news following the announcement of a new Australian SGP in Melbourne for 2015 and hopefully we will end 2014 on a high at the Borygo Torun FIM Speedway Grand Prix of Poland tomorrow.”

Joe Parsons, Director of Special Marketing Projects for Monster Energy EMEA, said: “Speedway is one of the success stories of our sponsorship portfolio and we’re very happy to extend our partnership for another three years.

“We’re delighted to continue building our relationship with the sport, fans and riders alike and we’re keen to explore more ways to develop the sport and experience for fans.

“We’re looking forward to making both the SGP series and Monster Energy SWC bigger and better over the next three years.”