Events

Australian sports fans soon may have to pay to see Australia play cricket in countries other than Britain and a host of other events deemed too unpopular to deserve free-to-air television coverage.

Attheraces, the new name for the Go Racing consortium backed by Arena Leisure, BSkyB and Carlton Communications, has appointed three additional members of the senior management team to supplement last month’s recruitment of marketing director Gavin Bisdee.

Vietnam has signed a contract with a Chinese consortium to build a $52.9 million (B

New Zealand-based venture capital firm IT Capital (ITC) has updated investors on the fortunes of its investment portfolio, which includes the sports broadcast enhancement company, Virtual Spectator.

Scottish Rugby Union chief executive Bill Watson believes that media coverage of the new Celtic League can boost the Scottish game.

Satellite channel British Eurosport scored its highest ever TV ratings for its coverage of the World Athletics Championships from Edmonton, Canada.

US broadcaster Fox has unveiled its advertising rates for next year’s SuperBowl with a 30-second spot costing as much as $2.5million (B

Com.hem, the cable television division of Swedish firm Telia, is increasing its interactive services to include soccer-related initiatives.

NBA team the Seattle Sonics is to unveil a new team logo and strip next week in a bid to reflect the change in management and whip up support in the team – and has just signed a new exclusive TV deal.

24dogs, the digital greyhound racing service owned by Wembley plc, has launched the Greyhound Racing SuperLeague after securing internet rights for 22 of the top 25 UK greyhound racetracks.

Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) has finalised its broadcast rights deal with the CBS Television Network and Fox Cable Networks Group beginning with the 2002 season through 2004.

DISH Network, the U.S. direct broadcast satellite television entertainment company, is to offer the ESPN GamePlan college football package to customers on DISH On Demand.

Toronto could lose the $2.95million (B

The US women’s soccer league is heading into the end of season play-offs for its inaugural season having exceeded attendance expectations, but it has fallen short in the television ratings.

The soccer stadiums for the first Afro-Asian Games have been severely criticised by a leading official who said they were unfit to stage international events.

Kirch, the owner of the television rights for Germany's premier soccer league, plans to offer a cheaper subscription rate to win more clients for its loss-making PremiereWorld pay-TV channel, a German magazine reported over the weekend.