Media

British Eurosport?s coverage of cycling?s Tour de France race helped the satellite channel attract an average audience of 69,000 on Sunday.

UK cable companies NTL and Telewest, both of which will broadcast Premiership pay-per-view soccer next season, may be forced into financial restructuring in the face of mounting debts.

The programming costs of the UK?s digital terrestrial sports channel ITV Sport will hinder the share performance of the network?s owners Granada and Carlton Communications, according to a research report from leading broker Merrill Lynch.

Hockey?s governing body, the Federation Internationale de Hockey, has launched its new website.

US broadcaster ABC?s TV audience for last Sunday?s instalment of the Indianapolis 500 was up 18 per cent on the previous year?s rain-delayed race, scoring a 5.3 rating with a 14 per cent market share.

Soccer's most powerful administrator will face the world's media today as pressure mounts for him to sort out his organisation's finances or quit.

e-comsport Group plc, the Alternative Investment Market (AIM)-listed sports marketing business, has announced a loss for the year ended 31 December 2000 of #4.5m ($6.41m).

A court in the Swiss town of Zug declared the Swiss sports rights marketing firm ISMM-ISL officially bankrupt on Monday after French media group Vivendi Universal last week withdrew a rescue offer.

FIFA will decide on Monday whether the World Club Championship, due to be held in Spain at the end of July, will go ahead as planned, the Spanish Football Federation said on Friday.

Opponents of the proposed #100m ($143m) London City racecourse are this week arguing against the scheme at a public inquiry at Ilford Town Hall.

The European Commission has cleared German media giant Bertelsmann?s acquisition of a majority stake in RTL group, Europe?s largest commercial broadcaster, without conditions.

Eurosport has launched its 18th language version specifically for Greek-speaking viewers.

EchoStar Communications has refused to rule out a merger between itself and Hughes Electronics-owned satellite broadcaster DirecTV, despite the latter reaching advanced discussions with Rupert Murdoch?s News Corporation for a similar tie-up.

The television ratings for the NASCAR Winston Cup have risen this year following the switch to new host broadcaster Fox Sports. The first quarter of races in the 2001 series averaged a rating of 6.8, up 39% on the same period the previous year.

Sweden?s answer to Rupert Murdoch, Jan Stenbeck, has bought a 17 per cent stake in soccer team Djurgarden. Stenbeck's company, Modern Times Group (MTG), owns several media companies, including the free commuter newspaper Metro which was introduced in the UK two years ago.

Non-League Media, the creators of TeamTalk and On The Ball soccer magazines in the UK, said pre-tax losses for the six months to December 31, 2000 widened to #800,000 ($1.2 million) from #425,000 ($611,800) for the same period last year.