[b]Media[/b]
The ECB announced has agreed to renew a deal with Sky Sports to screen live domestic and international cricket in England and Wales. The deal, thought to be worth £300m, begins after the Ashes series in 2009 and extends to 2013. At the same time, Five has agreed a highlights package to be screened during early evening.
BBC Motion Gallery, the archive sales arm of BBC Worldwide, has bolstered its specialist sports footage by signing a distribution deal with the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The five-year, global, archive representation agreements supplement the 70,000 hours of BBC Sport content already represented by BBC Motion Gallery.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has taken further action to promote Paralympic sports and the Paralympic Movement by launching a Channel on YouTubeTM, the leading online video community that allows people to discover, watch and share originally created videos. Fans can go to www.YouTube.com/ParalympicSportTV to watch clips of Paralympic sports, athletes and events.
The Scottish Football Association has agreed a new television deal which will net them as much as £60m. The agreement covers Scotland's home internationals and the Scottish Cup between 2010 and 2014. As part of the deal Sky Sports will have exclusive rights to Scotland's home internationals as well as nine live Scottish Cup matches, while the BBC have secured a highlights package for the national side and five live cup games.
ITV has commissioned its first online sports entertainment show as it expands its football website for the start of the new season. The Gloryhunter, made up of three-minute webisodes, will follow football fan Spencer Austin as he randomly selects a British club to support until they lose, when he will switch to the side that beats them.
The chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has slammed the BBC for failing to bid on the broadcast rights for live cricket coverage. The ECB has called for a wider debate into the future of public sector sports broadcasting.
Virgin Media has signed a deal with Perform that will see news, interviews and action from world leading football, tennis, golf, motorsport and a number of other sports and major events, delivered on demand through Virgin Media’s Sport portal. Drawn from Perform’s Omnisport.tv Daily Bulletin, the recently launched daily sports news service, the agreement provides Virgin Media access to a range of on-demand clips from the service.
[b]Marketing[/b]
Sports shoe brand Vans has made its first entry into the four-wheel motorsport market by sponsoring the CR Scuderia team. “As a team their activities include developing young single-seater superstars with aspirations to climb all the way to F1 and we applaud any encouragement given to young athletes," said Vans UK Moto Team Manager Jason Mills.
Brand Republic reports that LOCOG “will begin its search for second- and third-tier sponsors once this month’s Beijing Olympics end.” LOCOG already has agreed to deals with seven tier-one partners but "hopes to attract at least two more.” LOCOG will sign between 10-15 second-tier sponsors and more than 20 third-tier sponsors.
Snooker faces a financial crisis after the sport's two biggest sponsors announced they are terminating their contracts. 888.com will no longer sponsor the World Championships despite being just three years into a five-year deal, and Saga Insurance have also invoked a termination clause in their contract to back the prestigious Wembley Masters.
Bolton Wanderers has today announced a new two-year partnership with Bet2Go - the leading mobile and online odds comparison and sports betting service. Bet2Go will become the Club’s Official Betting Partner from the start of the 2008/2009 Barclays Premier League season.
Sports retailer, JJB Sports, has agreed a one-year deal with the Irish Football Association (IFA) to sponsor the new 12-team IFA Premiership, which starts on Saturday. The deal, which covers the 2008-09 season, replaces the FIA’s previous contract with Carnegie, the League’s sponsors for the past three years.
[b]Events[/b]
The Sports Consultancy, an independently owned sports marketing agency, has been appointed by Edinburgh (a partnership between Edinburgh City Council and University of Edinburgh) to build relationships with National Olympic and Commonwealth Teams with a view to brokering pre-competition training camps for the City in the build up to London 2012 and Glasgow 2014.
Event security and crowd management company, Showsec International, had agreed to become the official security partner for the annual Sports Event Management Conference (SEM), SportBusiness Sports Event Management Awards and Sports Security Summit (SSS) for the next three years. Under the partnership, which begins in 2008, Showsec will provide security staff at the events.
The International Rugby Board has announced that the IRB Awards in association with Emirates Airline will return to London this year. The gala event that recognises outstanding achievers in the Game, will be held at the Old Billingsgate venue on November 23.
[b]Finance[/b]
Indian mobile operator, Reliance Communications, has denied reports that it is in talks with English Premier League club, Newcastle United, according to Reuters. UK media reports had said that Newcastle’s owner Mike Ashley was in talks with Reliance Communications Chairman, Anil Ambani, over a £260 million takeover of the club.
