After acquiring the exclusive rights to distribute the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup on television, broadband and the Internet in the United States, Willow TV has announced its plans for the broadcast of the event.

A deal was reached with ESPN STAR Sports (ESS), ICC’s global broadcast and production partner, and Willow has now entered into agreements with DISH Network and DIRECTV, America’s leading satellite television platforms, who will broadcast the World Cup in high-definition.

DISH Network and DIRECTV are the only television providers in the United States that will broadcast the event with Willow distributing via Internet streaming, available across a range of devices.

Vijay Srinivasan, CEO of Willow TV, stated: “The range of viewing options that we have made available for this event is unparalleled, and we look forward to delivering a phenomenal viewing experience to cricket fans throughout the U.S.”

Manu Sawhney, Managing Director, ESPN STAR Sports, added: “We are very pleased to see the increasing popularity of the game in the U.S. and we are committed to bringing the excitement and passion of this iconic cricket tournament to fans in the most comprehensive, engaging and entertaining manner with our signature style production & presentation.”

United Airlines have extended their marketing partnership with New York Road Runners to title sponsor of one of NYRR’s flagship races, capsule the NYC Half.

The 2015 United Airlines NYC Half will take place on Sunday, clinic March 15, 2015, in Manhattan.

As an NYRR Foundation Partner, United Airlines is the official airline of TCS New York City Marathon and United Airlines NYC Half. United also serves as the official airline and a supporting sponsor of the other NYRR Five-Borough series events—the Brooklyn Half, Queens 10K, Bronx 10-Mile, and the Staten Island Half.

“We are thrilled to elevate our marketing agreement with United Airlines with an expanded presence throughout the five boroughs and beyond,” said John Gassner, vice president, business development and strategic partnerships of New York Road Runners. “As the title sponsor of our signature half-marathon—the United Airlines NYC Half—along with the activation around NYRR’s Five-Borough Series and the TCS New York City Marathon, United Airlines is now uniquely positioned as a key supporter in the running community.”

“As the New York area’s largest airline, we are in a great position to support New York Road Runners and bring runners, fans and visitors from around the world to participate in the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon and other NYRR Five-Borough series events,” said Thomas F. O’Toole, United’s senior vice president of marketing and loyalty and president of MileagePlus.

United Airlines will have prominent race-day presence from start to finish at the 2015 United Airlines NYC Half, including brand presence on race numbers, participant shirts, finisher amenities and signage.

Major League Soccer (MLS) has awarded its broadcasting rights in neighbouring Canada to TSN for the next six-years, beginning this year and running through to the 2016 season.

Under the terms of the deal TSN and TSN2 will broadcast 24 MLS regular season matches this season featuring Canadian teams Toronto FC and/or Vancouver Whitecaps FC. In future seasons, the networks will broadcast at least 30 games featuring the three Canadian teams – including the 2012 MLS expansion team, the Montreal Impact.

All MLS games on TSN and TSN2 will be broadcast in High Definition and additionally TSN also acquires the broadcast rights for the MLS Cup, MLS Cup Play-off games and the popular MLS All-Star Game, along with additional MLS games featuring non-Canadian teams.

Stewart Johnston, President of TSN, stated: “As seen with the success of Toronto FC and MLS’s expansion to Vancouver and Montreal, there is an incredible appetite for professional soccer in Canada. This is a long term partnership with MLS and we are looking forward to working with them not only to give fans ‘best in class’ game coverage but also to help build the profile of the league and grow the game of soccer across the country.”

Don Garber, MLS Commissioner, added: “We are very pleased to partner with TSN, the leading sports network in Canada. This announcement comes at an opportune time for MLS, as we enter a period of growth in Canada with the Vancouver Whitecaps joining the League this season and the Montreal Impact in 2012.  We look forward to building the sport together and creating an exciting multi-media platform for soccer fans throughout the country.”

BMW Group has been announced today as the naming rights sponsor for the 2015 BMW New Zealand Open.

At a launch in Auckland, cheap attended by the Prime Minister the Right Honourable John Key, the Chairman of the New Zealand Open Organising Committee Mr. John Hart confirmed BMW Group as the naming rights sponsor for the flagship golf event in New Zealand.

The BMW New Zealand Open, a tier one event on the PGA Tour of Australasia, will be held from 12-15 March at The Hills and Millbrook Resort in Queenstown.

Hart said: “BMW Group’s commitment to international golf is globally renowned and highly successful, and we are delighted to have such a magnificent global brand as a long term partner.”

With almost 30 years of supporting golf events around the world, the BMW New Zealand Open will run alongside events such as the BMW Championship, the BMW PGA Championship, the BMW International Open and the BMW Golf Cup.

“The announcement is a natural extension of BMW Group’s support of golf in New Zealand and we’re thrilled to be recognised as naming rights sponsor of the 2015 BMW New Zealand Open,” said Nina Englert, the Managing Director of BMW Group New Zealand.

Hart believed that securing BMW Group as the naming rights sponsor makes a statement of support for the unique format of the reinvigorated Queenstown-based tournament.

“The BMW New Zealand Open is the most unique National Open in the world, being played in a Pro-Am format across two magnificent courses,” he said.

“BMW Group is a huge supporter of major golf events around the world and we’re delighted that they have added the BMW New Zealand Open to their impressive list of events.”

It was also announced that the tournament prize money will increase to a new level of NZD$1 million

La Liga 1 and 2, Spain’s elite soccer leagues, are threatening to go on strike, postponing all matches played of the weekend of April 2 and 3, unless a controversial TV soccer regulation, established since 1997, is scrapped by the government.

For the last 14 years the so-called Ley del Futbol has enforced the open transmission on free-to-air TV of one match per weekend. However, Spanish clubs believe that abolishing these rules would entitle them to claim extra revenue of between US$203m and $270.5m per year, and are set for a new round of TV rights talks.

The clubs are offering to divert 15 per cent of all TV income as a bargaining gesture, to help pay off massive social security and tax debts. It is estimated that the clubs of the top two divisions are around $880m in debt and that a significant sector of that is owed to the tax and revenue authorities.

The FEI’s Top Partner Longines has announced its official partnership for the final leg of the FEI Nations Cup Eventing 2014 at the Military Boekelo-Enschede (NED), one of the largest outdoor sporting events in the Netherlands, on 9-12 October. 

The 44th edition of Military Boekelo-Enschede will feature the FEI Nations Cup Eventing final decider between 10 nations.

The stellar line-up includes Sandra Auffarth (GER), recently crowned team and individual world champion at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games 2014 in Normandy and team gold and individual bronze medallist at the London 2012 Olympic Games. She will be joined by London 2012 teammates Dirk Schrade and Peter Thomsen. The Germans currently have a 10-point lead in the series over closest rivals, Great Britain.

The British are also fielding a strong line-up with London 2012 Olympic Games team silver medallists Nicola Wilson and Kristina Cook, and Oliver Townend who is currently fourth in the FEI World Eventing Rankings. France, now lying third in the series just four points behind Great Britain, is also taking a strong team to Boekelo. Jean-Lou Bigot, former European champion and multiple medallist is listed with Olympian Didier Dhennin, and Thomas Carlile, winner of the World Breeding Championships 2013.

Also sending teams to the FEI Nations Cup Eventing finale are Australia led by Sam Griffiths, winner of this year’s Mitsubishi Badminton Horse Trials, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland and the USA.

Over 60,000 spectators are expected at the four-day Military Boekelo-Enschede, with the largest crowds on Saturday 11 October when horses and riders will tackle the six-kilometre Cross Country course designed by Sue Benson (GBR), who was responsible for the spectacular London 2012 course in Greenwich Park.

“We are really proud to support the FEI Nations CupTM Eventing finale as the Official Partner, and to provide our timekeeping expertise to a discipline which requires the horses to be extremely versatile and the riders to have exceptional skills,” explained Longines Vice President and International Marketing Director Juan-Carlos Capelli. “Longines is looking forward to this exciting competition in Boekelo, which perfectly illustrates the core values of our brand, namely tradition, performance and precision.”

Longines’ partnership with FEI Nations Cup Eventing 2014 reinforces Longines’ commitment to equestrian sports. As the Official Timekeeper and Official Watch of the FEI, the Swiss watchmaker’s partnership covers a number of major rights packages, including the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping, the FEI World Rider Rankings for Jumping – now the Longines Rankings – and official timekeeper of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Jumping and FEI World Equestrian Games in 2018 and 2022.

“We are delighted to have Longines supporting Eventing and recognising the tremendous potential of this Olympic discipline, one of the most popular equestrian sports amongst fans, especially on Cross Country day,” said FEI Chief of Business Development & Strategy Lisa Lazarus. “This shows once again Longines’ passion for equestrian sport and we look forward to growing this partnership in Eventing.”

Sports digital media specialists, Perform has announced a range of agreements with major US sports properties for premium content deals, marking the launch of the ePlayer video-on-demand (VOD) streaming service.

Perform’s rights acquisitions include game highlights produced by Major League Baseball (MLB) Advanced Media and Major League Soccer (MLS) as well as content from the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL), PGA Tour, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).

The launch of Perform’s embeddable platform, ePlayer 2.0, represents the first time that a single video platform has collected such a significant range of game highlights under one umbrella and made them available for free-to-local online publishers across the US.

Juan Delgado, Perform’s North American managing director, stated: “We saw a significant opportunity at the local media level to engage and deliver relevant sports highlights specific to teams and markets. The launch of ePlayer in the US creates an amazing opportunity for rights-holders to embrace a fragmented local market audience and distribute targeted premium sports content to their avid audience following.”

Currently, ePlayer appears on 400 plus global publishers in 13 territories, and streams over 153 million videos every month.

America II Electronics, ampoule Inc., view one of the world’s largest distributors of semiconductors and electronic components, announced today that the company will be an official sponsor of the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl.

Owned and operated by ESPN Events, a subsidiary of ESPN, the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl is an annual college football postseason game played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The game takes place on Friday, December 26 at 8 p.m. EST and is in its first year of new conference affiliation with the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the American Athletic Conference (AAC).

As part of its sponsorship, America II will be represented during the game’s official welcome press conference and reception for the schools participating in the Bowl. 

“America II is delighted to be part of the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl,” said Michael Galinski, CEO and founder, America II Electronics. “This is about so much more than college football. This sponsorship is part of America II’s ongoing commitment to support our community. It’s about promoting the St. Petersburg area with the goal of strengthening our local economy.”

“We are excited to have an international company based in St. Petersburg joining our family of corporate sponsors,” said Brett Dulaney, Executive Director, Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl. “Our Team Welcome event has evolved to be a very special and entertaining evening for the teams and our board members and having America II involved will allow us to continue to enhance the event.”

India’s leading Internet and Mobile Content Service Provider, Times Internet Limited (TIL), has won the exclusive mobile rights for the International Cricet Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup, through its mobile division, Indiatimes 58888.

In their role as global partner to the upcoming flagship cricket event, Reliance Communications Limited awarded the rights to the company which include mobile content services such as SMS, voice and video alerts, live audio commentary, mobile content downloads and 2G and 3G services.

Reliance Communications president Mahesh Prasad stated: “Indiatimes has an exclusive and extensive network services on 58888 and is the largest aggregator in India for infotainment content, it is therefore a strong natural choice for us distribution partnership. We believe that with media strength alongside, Times will bring great value to the mobile subscribers.”

Reliance Communications head VAS Anil Pande added: “We Indians are extremely passionate about cricket and we at Reliance Communications are committed to enhance our customers’ experience in the passion for the game that binds every Indian, in India and globally.

“This new format of cricket has captured the interest of not only the youth, but all age groups, becoming a bundled family event. As ICC’s ‘Global Partner’ till 2015 we are proud to be associated with the game that is growing in popularity across the World.”

Times Internet Limited CEO Rishi Khiani also said: “The World Cup begins on 19th of this month and with over 500 million subscribers now, we hope to see significant traction from the users for content downloads. We are talking to operators to make the content available on various platforms.”

National Basketball League (NBL) team Perth Wildcats have announced the signing of one of Perth’s premiere property groups, health Hawaiian, sale as a Platinum Partner for the 2014/15 Season.

The partnership will see Hawaiian become the major sponsor of a halftime game, “Halftime with Hawaiian”. Junior basketball teams representing suburbs around Hawaiian’s properties will be invited to play on the Perth Arena court in front of thousands of fans at every Perth Wildcats home game.

Hawaiian Director and CEO Russell Gibbs said the partnership is an integral part of the company’s community enrichment program, becoming a helping hand that creates positive life experiences for people that engage with Hawaiian.

“Giving back to the communities we do business in is something that’s very important at Hawaiian, and giving the kids a chance to experience playing on the same court as some of their basketball idols is something we’re proud to make happen,” he said.

“We hope this is an experience they will remember for years to come.”

Perth Wildcats managing director Nick Marvin is pleased to partner with Hawaiian.

“I’m extremely proud to partner with Hawaiian, who plays such a big role in the Perth, and the West Australian community,” said Mr Marvin.

“Working with the community is one of the core aspects of our business, and a big part of this is engaging with grassroots basketball.

“It’s exciting to have Hawaiian on our side as we look to provide a memorable experience for a large group of juniors players.”