The Australian Football League (AFL) are vowing to battle a court ruling which has halted a $153 million broadcast rights deal with telecommunications giant Telstra 

In a landmark ruling, Justice Steven Rares ruled that Optus’ ‘TV Now’ service – which allows mobile users to record and watch a program on as little as a two minute delay – would be granted court protection from copyright claims by the AFL, Telstra and National Rugby League.

He said in a judgement that Optus had not infringed copyright in the ways that the AFL, NRL and Telstra, which holds an exclusive licence to use NRL and AFL match broadcasts, had alleged.

And that in turn will place the $153 million broadcast deal between Telstra and the AFL in serious jeopardy, with the phone giant already having threatened to rip up the agreement if the judgement went against them.

The deal had given Telstra the exclusive right to show AFL matches live on handheld devices from 2012 to 2016, while a similar agreement was also being brokered as part of the broadcasting rights negotiations with the NRL.

Gillon McLachlan of the AFL said the arguments were still in the “pre-season” stage.

“We maintain Optus action is a breach of copyright … it is highly likely we will appeal,” McLachlan said.

There is no way the appeal would be heard before the AFL season starts on March 24 and the NRL season starts on March 1 – opening the way for the ‘TV Now’ service to continue this season.

NRL boss David Gallop joined the AFL in his disapproval of the ruling.

“The decision is very likely to be appealed,” Gallop said.

“It is a major concern as it clearly has the capacity to devalue the ability of the sports to sell exclusive rights.”

The ‘TV Now’ system allows users to record a broadcast, upload it to an external server – or cloud storage – and then watch it back almost immediately, via a phone or PC.

London 2017 bid organisers have launched a new scheme the ‘Women in World Athletics’ programme with the idea behind the unique five-year programme being to inspire the most promising young women from the world of athletics to progress in leadership roles such as technical officials.

The Women in World Athletics programme, which would commence in May 2012 with a funding commitment of over $400,000 from the London 2017 London Organising Committee, will identify 50 of the most promising female technical officials and young leaders from across the athletics world in partnership with the IAAF and its Member Federations. 

15 of these participants will then be selected to officiate and volunteer at the 2017 World Athletics Championships, if Lonson win the bid.

Ed Warner, chairman of the London bid team and UKA, said: :Currently, too few officials and leaders in the sport are female, but by increasing those numbers and giving them technical skills, support and encouragement to drive development in their own athletics communities, the next generation of athletes will be supported both in competition and in training by a more diverse support network.”

“Not only do technical officials enable countries around the world to develop through hosting international competitions, but also act as leaders, role models and teachers within their own local communities. 2017 would serve as the ultimate goal for the participants in this programme and we hope that the Women in World Athletics programme will encourage, motivate and inspire more women to progress careers in athletics.’ “

Each individual will be assigned with an experienced female technical official or young leader from the UK to provide mentoring, support and share knowledge. 

Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, 100m hurdler and ambassador for London’s 2017 bid added: “Being part of an international athletics event is an incredible experience whether that’s as an athlete, an official or in the crowd. I feel extremely passionate about inspiring more women to get involved in the sport and the Women in World Athletics initiative is an ideal way to motivate more female officials and leaders to learn the skills needed to develop athletics communities across the globe.”

“It would be great to see the World Champs in London in 2017. I have competed there many times and always had a fantastic experience, the support there is incredible. It would be a great accomplishment to see the first of the female officials come through the Women in World Athletics programme to participate in the 2017 event in London.”

It has been revealed that the Department for Culture, store Media and Sport (DCMS) has acquired 8, anabolics 815 tickets for Government use at the Olympic Games, which includes 3,000 tickets available for purchase by civil servants who have worked on the Games.

A demand for tickets have been at a premium with many UK residents angered by missing out on a Olympics which will be right on their doorstep. No doubt the revealing of this ticket allocation will fuel the public discontent.

In total there are about 14,000 tickets set aside for Government officials, including 200 of the best tickets available to each of the London boroughs.

However the details of the DCMS allocation has highlighted that the Government has the best seats at the most highly prized events, limiting the numbers that are then made available for public sale.

The tickets purchased by the DCMS are £750,000 ($1.2 million) in total, made up of 212 opening ceremony tickets for £194,525 ($311,530), 142 closing ceremony tickets for £71,490 ($114,493), 256 athletics tickets for £33,805 ($54,139), 410 beach volleyball tickets for £26,600 ($42,606), 224 track cycling tickets and 350 diving tickets for £29,530 ($47,314).

The DCMS ordered 212 tickets for the opening ceremony, which has been quarantined for VIPs only, at a cost to taxpayers of £194,525.

Just over 40 of the opening ceremony tickets ordered were for the most expensive seats of £2012.12 ($3,224) each.

A DCMS spokesman said: “We are determined to use this unique opportunity [of hosting the Oympic and Paralympic Games] to maximise the economic benefits for the country. The Government has purchased 8,815 tickets for the Games – around 0.1 per cent of the 8.8 million tickets available.These will be used to invite and accompany a number of international and domestic political and business leaders, as well as guests with a close connection to the Games and its legacy.”

The DCMS has also paid out £71,490 ($114,546) for 142 tickets for the closing ceremony, 256 tickets to athletics, 410 tickets to the beach volleyball, 224 for track cycling and 378 to swimming. The diving finals, likely to feature Tom Daley, was a popular Government choice, with 350 tickets reserved for that event.

The sport in most demand by the Government was the mountain biking with 1,020 tickets, followed by football with 699 tickets. The least popular sports were trampoline gymnastics (24 tickets), race walking (36), synchronised swimming (36) and Greco-Roman wrestling (33).

The allocation of such high numbers of Government tickets to smaller venues such as the Aquatics Centre and the Velodrome has put increased pressure on Locog to reveal the exact numbers of tickets available to the public in those venues.

There are fears that the numbers of tickets at each of the price points in the public allocation to see Sir Chris Hoy, or Rebecca Adlington is in the hundreds, not the thousands.

This comes as two-thirds of the 1.9 million ticket applicants failed to receive any Olympic tickets in the public ballot.

Total ticket revenue for the organisers is expected to come in at £500 million ($801m).

Sepp Blatter, the president of football’s governing body, Fifa, has said it would be ‘easy’ to stage the 2018 World Cup in England.

Fifa delegates are currently in England inspecting its bid on a four-day visit.

Blatter said: “The easiest way to organise the World Cup is to go to England. Everything is there: fans, stadiums, infrastructure – it’s easy.”

British deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, met the Fifa inspection team yesterday and believes the England bid is ‘unbeatable’.

He said: “I believe this is an exceptionally strong, unbeatable bid. We in this government believe in it, we hope that you will believe in it.

“Our job is to show you we already have the infrastructure and facilities to host a World Cup.”

The inspection team were in London yesterday, and are also due to visit the north-east and north-west during their trip.

The hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will be announced on 2 December.

Agencies IGM and Vizeum have been successful in gaining the strategic media planning account for British Telecom’s (BT) sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Vizeum will be responsible for BT’s media strategy, while sports specialist IMG will create sponsorship activation on the account. It is Vizeum’s first appointment to the BT roster.

BT is a first-tier domestic sponsor of the Games and the official communications partner in a deal worth just under US$120 million.

Sports marketing agency Infront Sports & Media have renewed their partnership with Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) for a further four years.

The prolonged agreement covers the qualification periods of the UEFA EURO 2016 France and the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. Infront exclusively markets perimeter board advertising for all home matches of the Austrian national team – both qualifiers and friendlies.

In addition, Infront supplies state-of-the-art LED advertising boards in TV camera view for all these matches, in order to ensure impactful brand communication of the ÖFB partners and other interested companies. The same systems are also in use at this year’s UEFA Champions League and 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. 

Alfred Ludwig, General Director of the Austrian Football Association, said: “We are delighted that we can continue our long-standing partnership. Infront has not only offered the best proposal but has fully proved a competent and successful partner to the ÖFB over the years.”

Managing Director Stefan Krauss added: “Football is a core element of the Infront Group’s business and many long-term partnerships in place confirm our success. We look forward to continuing our trusted and goal-oriented cooperation with the ÖFB and hope to accompany the association in celebrating memorable victories and in qualifying for one or the other upcoming tournament.”

The marketing partnership with the ÖFB is implemented by Infront Austria.

The Fiji Government and the PGA of Australia have agreed a partnership to create the largest and most acclaimed sporting event in Fiji, impotent the Fiji International.

The golf event from 2014 will be played at the spectacular Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course for a five-year period with a guaranteed minimum prize purse of US$1 million.

The PGA Tour of Australasia tournament will be managed by the PGA in conjunction with tournament promoter Sports & Entertainment Limited (SEL), and will be co-sanctioned by OneAsia, of which the PGA is a founding partner.

In making the announcement alongside Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, Brian Thorburn CEO of the PGA of Australia said the Fiji International presents an opportunity for Fiji to claim a position as one of the world’s greatest golf destinations.

Brian Thorburn CEO of the PGA of Australia, commented on the deal: “This is a significant day for Fiji, the PGA of Australia and OneAsia.”

“The Fiji International will perfectly complement Fiji’s tourism strategy at the same time delivering both short and long term economic benefits.”

“With a broadcast reach to over 400 million people across 40 countries, the Fiji International will rightfully showcase Fiji as a world class golf and tourist destination and we’re proud to be involved with this promising project.”

Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said that his Government fully supported this initiative.

“The signing of today’s MOU is a significant moment for Fiji because it demonstrates that the PGA has faith in our country to hold one of its major events. Faith in our infrastructure. Faith in our economy. And faith in our people. I am here to say that we are equal to the opportunity and look forward to a strong and lasting relationship with the PGA.”

The Prime Minister also said that the Fiji International will showcase Fiji to the world.

“With a potential broadcast reach to more than 400 million people across 40 countries, it will feature Fiji as a top golf and tourist destination in millions of homes around the globe.”

“It will give us a fantastic avenue to promote our beautiful nation and show the world what we have to offer.”

While the final date is yet to be confirmed, the inaugural Fiji International will be played at Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course in August 2014.