Americas

Internet company Google has held talks with the National Football League (NFL) American football competition about the possibility of acquiring live rights for its YouTube video-sharing website, according to the AllThingsD.com technology news website.

US cable-television operator Time Warner Cable will offer a free preview of pay-television broadcaster Tennis Channel to customers who cannot access the CBS network during the US Open tennis tournament due of a contract dispute.

The CBS Sports division of US network CBS has acquired rights from pay-television broadcaster ESPN for the American Athletic Conference college sports competition.

The CBS Sports division of US network CBS has acquired rights for the Mountain West Conference college sports competition’s American football championship game.

Private equity company Forstmann Little has begun formally soliciting buyers for the IMG agency and is distributing financial information to potential suitors, according to the Wall Street Journal newspaper.

Randy Freer, chief operating officer and co-president of the Fox Sports division of US network Fox, has said that the broadcaster would be interested in bidding for Thursday night NFL American football rights.

The US Tennis Association has begun talks on alternative broadcast plans for the US Open tournament if CBS remains off the air in the New York area due to the network’s ongoing dispute with cable-television operator Time Warner Cable.

US regional television broadcaster WBBZ-TV has acquired rights to American football games from college sport’s Atlantic Coast Conference ahead of the 2013 season.

Brazilian pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports Brasil has announced that it will provide live coverage of all 64 games of the 2014 Fifa World Cup and will launch a second channel next year.

NBC Sports Network, the cable-television sports channel of US network NBC, will use its coverage of English Premier League football to promote its NBCSN rebranding.

The IEC in Sports agency has announced rights deals for the 2013 World Fly Fishing Championship with pay-television broadcasters in Croatia, Israel and Chile.

Showtime will not be able to provide coverage of mixed martial arts again until 2014, according to the US pay-per-view broadcaster’s executive vice-president Stephen Espinoza.

Fox Sports 1, the new US pay-television channel from the Fox Sports division of the Fox network, remains in talks to seal carriage deals with pay-television operators Time Warner Cable, DirecTV and Dish ahead of its launch on August 17, according to the Bloomberg news agency.

The International Motor Sports Association has agreed a five-year multimedia rights deal with the Fox Sports division of US network Fox for coverage of the United SportsCar Racing series until 2018.

US cable-television channel Fuel TV has confirmed it will be rebranded as Fox Sports 2 on August 17 to coincide with the launch of Fox Sports 1, the new pay-television channel from the Fox Sports division of the Fox network.

US horse racing organisation the Jockey Club has agreed a multi-year rights deal with the Fox Sports division of the Fox network.