Ireland

Telewest and NTL, the two big cable players in the UK, are joining forces to accelerate the take-up of high-speed internet services. Sport and Broadband: A new report from SportBusiness Group:

LEAGUE’ Glasgow Celtic, the leading Scottish soccer club, plans to play in the English Premier League, its chairman Dermot Desmond said in an interview.

Power Leisure, the Irish-based bookmaker, has put additional pressure on the Irish government to further cut betting duty after announcing plans to move its online and telephone operations to the UK where the nine percent betting tax on punters will be scrapped on October 6.

The importance of sport to almost every revenue stream in British satellite broadcaster BSkyB's digital offering has been highlighted by the release of its annual results for the year ended June 30, 2001.

The Scottish Rugby Union paid out nearly £2 million ($2.75m) to clubs in the last financial year - a new record and an eight per cent rise on the previous year.

The UK’s betting operators are joining forces to launch a £2m ($2.9m/B

Breeders' Cup officials this week unveiled a plan aimed at boosting familiarity and interest in European horses among American racing fans ahead of this year's multi-million dollar thoroughbred racing card.

The English Premier League has confirmed that it has signed a deal with Hong Kong-based telecom company Hutchinson3G for the rights to provide Premiership soccer content to mobile phones and wireless devices. Sport and Wireless: A new report from SportBusiness Group:

Scottish Premier League soccer champions Celtic have hailed a trial pay-per-view broadband broadcast a success – despite just 30 percent of broadband subscribers watching the game.

The Irish Horseracing Authority (IHA) wants to alter its media and betting operations to a system similar to the one used in the UK.

Japan has no plans to launch a new investigation into allegations the central Japanese city of Nagano bribed International Olympic Committee (IOC) executives to host the 1998 Winter Games.

Former state-owned telecommunications company eircom plc is the new official sponsor of Ireland's national soccer team, the Football Association of Ireland has confirmed.

CSS Stellar, the largest British owned event marketing group, have acquired the rights of the first ATP Tour Seniors event to be staged in Ireland.

International rugby union is again in turmoil after England announced an under strength party to tour the Southern hemisphere, leaving the Australian union fuming and sponsors concerned about the series.

South African coach Nick Mallett has called for a shorter season as the world champions embarked on their seventh grand slam tour of Britain and Ireland.

The Irish government has said it will not issue visas to the Yugoslav soccer team, who were due to play Ireland in a European championship qualifying game on Saturday, effectively forcing the cancellation of the Lansdowne Road fixture.