Exclusive broadcast rights for the London 2012 Olympic Games have been secured by CVM Group in Jamaica after being sold on by International Media Content Ltd.

As part of its pan-Caribbean broadcast package, bought from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in October 2009, International Media Content Ltd. has exercised its right to sell packages on to broadcasters in individual territories.

The deal, signed in Kingston on Tuesday, 22 February, confirms that Usain Bolt’s efforts to retain his Olympic 100 and 200 metre titles in London will be available free-to-air in his homeland.

Michael Lee-Chin, the chief shareholder in CVM Group, stated: “The board, management and staff at CVM know the enormous responsibility of carrying the Olympics exclusively. This is a departure from the past where the rights were shared. It was only last year that the Fifa World Cup was also carried exclusively by CVM TV, with tremendous success, and we know what it takes to aggregate and deliver big events.”

IMC’s chairman, Pat Rousseau, added: “We were successful in the transmission of the 2006 and 2010 Fifa World Cups, to approximately 40 million households in the Caribbean in three languages and so this time around, IMC is the best positioned to bring high quality coverage of the 2012 summer Olympics to regional broadcasters and by extension the regional sports fans.”

According to the IOC, the pan-Caribbean rights to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing were sold for US$500,000. Though no financial details of the deals for 2012 are available, it is likely there will have been an uplift in the rights fees.

ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) official broadcaster of the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup have revealed that the opening match between India and Bangladesh delivered a peak rating of 12.48 TVR across 6 metros according to data issued by research agency TAM for CS 4+ TG on ESPN, Star Sports, Star Cricket, and DD1.

Overall, the opening match delivered an average cumulative TVR of 7.8 across ESPN, Star Sports, Star Cricket & DD1 channels. The match reached out to 27.4 million consumers across 6 metros. The city of Bangalore leads the pack with average TVR of 9.17 for the first match followed by Mumbai (9.14 TVR), Kolkata (7.7 TVR), Delhi (7.65 TVR), Hyderabad (6.43 TVR) & Chennai (4.94 TVR).

Indian Super League (ISL) team Chennaiyin Football Club have announced prominent real estate developers Ozone Group as their principal sponsor.

Chennaiyin FC co-owners Abhishek Bachchan and Vita Dani and Ozone Group CEO Srini Gopalan were present at the announcmenet along with six players — Gouramangi Singh, Bojan Djordjic, Bernard Mendy, Harmanjot Khabra, Jeje Lalpekhlua and Abhishek Das.

Abhishek said, “It’s an important day for us as we unveil the jersey of Chennaiyin FC. The boys have been training very hard and as owners we plan to give them all the moral support possible. We hope the quality and standard of Indian football is something the international arena wakes up to.”

Vita Dani said, “We are delighted to launch our jersey and are excited to have Ozone Group as the principal sponsor for Chennaiyin FC and welcome them on board. We look forward to working with them in the Hero Indian Super League.

“The decision was made easy as there are definite synergies in our vision for Chennaiyin FC. This association symbolises a shared dream of creating a successful brand and world class franchise.”

Ozone Group CEO Srini Gopalan said, “It is due to the love and passion for the game, Ozone Group decided to be a part of ISL and Chennaiyin FC. The Group promotes football at a grass-root level with Ozone Football Academy. At the club, we provide people with the opportunity to pursue football as a career.”

Chennaiyin FC start their Hero Indian Super League campaign with an away game against FC Goa on October 15 while their first home fixture is against Kerala Blasters on October 21.

YouTube, under the ownership of Google Inc. since there US$1.65bn buyout in 2006, are reportedly in talks with major sporting leagues across North America and Europe, such as the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League, to show live games.

Google’s director of content partnerships for Asia Pacific, Gautam Anand revealed in an interview in Seoul yesterday, February 22, that YouTube aims to show more live sports in the second half of the year.

According to the head of YouTube Partnership at Google’s Korean unit, Brian Suh, Google is in talks with “most pro sports leagues” including NBA and NHL, as well as soccer leagues in Europe.

The company are hoping to build on the popularity of cricket’s Indian Premier League last year, with Anand stating: “One of the good things about IPL was that it really proved to a lot of sports leagues that broad-scale live- streaming type of exercise is something that’s possible. They took notice of IPL and have come to us, and entered into a lot more serious discussions.”

Adding live sports broadcasts may help YouTube expand revenue by keeping viewers on its site longer to woo more advertisers. YouTube’s contract to show cricket from the Indian Premier League, which gives the Google unit a share of ad revenue from games and the league’s website, brought in 55 million visits from more than 250 countries.

Anand added: “It’s fair to say that there will be a lot more appealing sports content you’ll see on YouTube. We have ongoing conversations with pretty much everyone.”

Although senior vice president for public relations at the NHL, Gary Meager, did not reply for comment, Michael Bass, senior vice president for marketing communications at the NBA, stated: “We’re pleased that YouTube recognizes the value of live sports.”

In negotiating U.S. TV rights for the 2014 Winter and 2016 Summer Olympic Games later this year, buy the International Olympic Committee (IOC) “anticipates some bid proposals will include plans to launch a stand-alone 24-hour cable channel in the U.S. that will be devoted to the Olympics, bronchi ” according to SportsBusiness Journal.

The IOC is reportedly anticipating the three expected bidders — NBC/Comcast, ABC/ESPN and Fox — to look into the feasibility of launching such a network.

Sources said that ESPN “has spoken to the IOC about the possibility of a broadband channel, patterned after ESPN3.”

IOC Finance Commission Chair Richard Carrión stated: “The IOC sees value in a U.S. Olympic television channel because it would make Olympic values relevant in the market year-round.”

Retro Infinity Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of WRIT Media Group, Inc. and publisher of classic video games has announced today that it will be the primary sponsor on both Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series cars in this weekend’s NASCAR event at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The cars will be driven by seasoned racer Carlos Contreras and young gun Timmy Hill.

Carlos Contreras will race his 99th NASCAR race in Friday night’s Drive for the Cure 300, presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield, making history as the first Mexican driver to achieve this milestone.

“Through the RWR Retro Infinity NASCAR team, we have been driving valuable brand awareness to our mobile gaming products, and have gained broad exposure via NASCAR’s national televised events and social media campaigns surrounding such events. We expect to continue this success through the championship weekend in November. As proud sponsors of the Rick Ware Racing, we wish both drivers success this weekend,” stated Eric Mitchell, WRIT Media CEO.

“This will definitely be a weekend to remember. We’re excited to be racing for the Retro Infinity brand and I look forward to helping WRIT Media Group make an impact on the gaming community as we race towards the finish line,” stated driver Carlos Contreras.

American broadcaster TNT averaged a 6.2 overnight rating for Sunday (February 20) night’s National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game, up 35% from a 4.6 overnight last year.

The net earned a 4.4 fast-national rating and 8.1 million viewers for coverage of NBA All-Star Saturday Night presented by State Farm, marking the most-watched All-Star Saturday Night in the event’s 26-year history.

This year’s All-Star Saturday Night figures are up 13% and 23%, respectively, from a 3.9 rating and 6.554 million viewers last year while the telecast peaked from 10:30-11:00pm ET, with nearly 10.4 million viewers tuning in for Clippers forward, Blake Griffin’s winning dunk in the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest.

The ’11 All-Star Saturday Night ranks as the most-watched NBA telecast on cable for the ’10-11 season.