Growing up, it used to be a treat to watch a cricket series or a football game live on television. One would stay up or wake up to watch a one day game in New Zealand or a European Cup Winners Cup Final. Sometimes, there was no notice and one would stumble upon, say, a tennis match coming live on a French channel. These instances, being few and far between, became special and are still present in the memory vault.

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UEFA today announced an exclusive agreement for the broadcasting rights of UEFA EURO 2012™ with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). This deal covers a total of 36 European territories (see list attached). EBU members will be granted the broadcasting rights in 29 of these 36 territories.
In those 29 territories, a minimum of 27 of the 31 matches will be broadcast live on free-to-air channels, as well as dedicated magazines and highlights programmes. Football fans will also be able to enjoy the tournament coverage via the Internet portals and mobile platforms of these official broadcasters as well as via EBU members’ radio stations.
In a further 7 countries, UEFA and the EBU will work together to identify the best platform for the broadcasting of such rights.

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As the sports season heats up with a buffet of top world-class events, fans across Asia will experience sports in a brand new way on ESPN & STAR Sports as Asia’s No. 1 sports content provider rebrands and launches its new on-air presentation across its networks today.

The new branding & channel presentation leverages on ESPN & STAR Sports’ exciting and distinct brand equities to further strengthen their connection with current audiences and attract new demographics, as fans gear up to catch the exciting action from major sporting events such as the ICC Champions Trophy, Airtel Champions League Twenty20, Formula One Grand Prix and the Barclays Premier League this September.

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General Electric Co’s NBC Sports on Thursday announced a deal extending its right to air the biggest U.S. figure skating events through the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but a source familiar with the talks, who asked not to be identified, said it is a revenue-sharing agreement similar to what is already in place between NBC Sports and the U.S. sports’ governing body.

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Those who argue the ECB’s decision to give exclusive rights to English cricket to Sky TV has reduced access to the game will be quick to seize on the viewing figures for the last day of the Ashes series at The Oval on Sunday as ammunition

Just under two million watched the climax of the game, and the average throughout the day was 856,000. Channel Five’s early-evening highlights, the only way for terrestrial viewers to see any action, was watched by about two million as well.

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Basketball fans wanting to monitor the qualification tournaments for the 2010 FIBA World Championship can watch every game at the FIBA Americas Championship over the next two weeks.

The Americas event tips off in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Wednesday and concludes on September 6 with the top four teams qualifying for next year’s big event in Turkey.
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Neo Cricket is targeting a revenue of Rs 10 billion for the year, aided as it is by a slew of international cricket involving India.
Neo said it expects to get Rs 6.5-7 billion from ad sales while distribution will make up for the remaining amount.

With its cricket season starting next month with the Sahara BCCI Corporate Trophy, Neo Cricket also said it has kicked off its ad campaign that will centre around the theme of “six months of non-stop action, six months of drama, madness.”
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The Asian Tour has signed a 3 1/2-year contract with Sky Sports to broadcast golf tournaments in Britain and Ireland, the Tour said Monday, a week after Yang Yong-eun became the continent’s first men’s major champion.

Britain’s dominant pay-TV sports broadcaster, owned by BSkyB, already shows Asian Tour events co-sanctioned by the European Tour and will now add the Macau Open, Malaysia’s Iskandar Johor Open, and the Cambodian Open to its 2009 schedule.

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Ten Sports has roped in five sponsors for the US Open, the last in the year’s cycle of tennis Grand Slam events.

IBM is the presenting sponsor while HP, Vodafone, Maruti and Cadbury have come in as associate sponsors.

“We have sold out half the inventory. IBM is the title sponsor and spot buys have been taken by Intel so far,” Taj Television India GM Rukin Kizilbash tells Indiantelevision.com, while refusing to disclose financial details.

Industry sources say IBM has coughed out around Rs 3.5-4 million while associate sponsorship has gone for Rs 2.5 million. Spot rates are being sold for around Rs 15,000 per 10 seconds.

The core target audience for the event, which takes place this year from 31 August-13 September, is SEC A, males 15+. “Generally we sell the US Open separately from the other sports events due its marquee status,” says Kizilbash, while admitting that apart from the Grand Slams it is difficult to get in good revenues from other tennis properties.

Last month, IBM renewed its deal with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) for the US Open for four years despite the economic downturn. Staying with the event since 1992, IBM reportedly will spend $20 million in rights fees, advertising and back-office infrastructure over the 4-year period.

The USTA, which positions the US Open as the ultimate convergence of sports, celebrity, business and entertainment, earlier this year said that last year’s edition set a new all-time attendance record of more than 720,000 fans. Arthur Ashe Stadium was sold to a record 99 per cent of capacity for the first time, with 23 of 26 sessions sold out. Attendance, the USTA said, climbed by 180,000 versus 10 years ago, and by 100,00 versus five years ago.

Source: India Television

Neo Cricket’s cricket season has got extended. The channel will air the BCCI Corporate Trophy from 1-8 September, in which 12 corporates will take part involving several Indian national players who are employed by these companies.

Neo Sports broadcast COO Prasana Krishnan says that this event was not in the original contract. The BCCI recently came up with the concept and the channel which is the BCCI’s broadcast partner took the rights for the same.

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