Media

Shares in sports and finance spread betting firm IG Index slumped 10 percent yesterday after the company warned that pretax profits for the year ending November 30 would be about GBP1m (USD1.4m/EUR1.6m) shy of analyst forecasts.

A new report by The Zenith Optimedia Group has forecast another tough year ahead for US media companies reliant on advertising spend as a primary income source.

A key congressional panel due to hear from Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig on a bill to strip away part of the game's exemption from federal antitrust laws will be beamed live on the internet.

Tickets.com has teamed up with Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians.

Premier1 Racing - the motorsport / soccer hybrid - has put back its launch date by eight months, but denied suggestions all may not be well with the new sport.

KirchGruppe unit KirchMedia has continued its 'mopping up' operation in regard to the sale of World Cup broadcast rights with the conclusion of further deals in minor football markets.

The Football Network (TFN), the fledgling 24-hour gridiron football cable channel, has appointed Jerry Solomon to president and CEO of the company.

UK broadcaster Carlton, a joint-venture partner in the ITV Digital venture, has revealed that a partnership with BSkyB is essential if the terrestrial platform is to secure its long-term future.

Sports.com, the unofficial website for the World Cup, has expanded its email marketing business by signing a deal with internet advertising group Doubleclick.

ITV's terrestrial channel, ITV1, and its digital network, ITV2, will be available on BSkyB's digital satellite platform, sportbusiness.com can confirm.

UK media group TEAMtalk has completed a GBP2m (USD2.8m/EUR3.2m) deal to acquire 80 percent of radio station Atlantic 252 from the RTL Group.

The Winter Olympic Games and the World Cup should help the beleaguered advertising market see some signs of recovery, according to leading global media planning and buying agency Zenith Optimedia, whose forecasts are closely watched by the industry.

Sports media group TEAMtalk has signed a deal with the Expressen Newspaper Group in Sweden to provide daily football content for the Allsvenskan league.

German media company ProSiebenSAT1 Media has been downgraded by investment bank Merrill Lynch on the back of falling ad revenues and higher sports related programming costs in 2002.

US racetrack owner Churchill Downs has completed an agreement with privately-held Centaur Racing to sell a 15 percent interest in Hoosier Park, which owns the Anderson racetrack and related off-track betting operations.

Carlton - one of the biggest shareholders in UK commercial network ITV - is banking on the soccer World Cup to buck the current advertising downturn.