MUMBAI: Sky Sports has been awarded the rights to the UK and Ireland qualification matches for Uefa Euro 2016 and 2018 Fifa World Cup.

The new agreement with Uefa provides Sky Sports with coverage of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland, together with and all other Uefa member associations, between 2014-2017.

The schedule of up to 500 international matches underlines Sky Sports as the home of televised football and complements the unrivalled portfolio of rights shown across six channels.

• England - Highlights of every England qualifying match for both tournaments and live away matches should England play other Home Nations.
• Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland And The Republic Of Ireland - All matches home and away exclusively live in the UK during qualification for both tournaments.
• Upto 500 Matches - Starting with Uefa Euro 2016 qualification fixtures in September 2014, Sky Sports will show up to 500 international competitive matches over three years.

 "There has never been a better time to be a Sky Sports subscriber, with an unrivalled breadth of sport offered across six different channels. This year our viewers can enjoy The British and Irish Lions Tour, back-to-back Ashes Series, the ICC Champions Trophy, every race live in the F1 season, Super League, US Open and US PGA Golf, Andy Murray defending his US Open title and of course our biggest ever season of football," said Francis.

MUMBAI: The final edition of the Champions Trophy takes place next month in England. According to guidelines issued by The International Cricket Council (ICC) a news broadcaster may broadcast a maximum of five and a half minutes of fresh footage per day.

It is the same as what the BCCI allows for the on-going IPL. The total number of broadcasts of footage is restricted to a maximum of two exhibitions per hour of broadcasting. No more than five and a half minutes of footage including repeats may be broadcast per hour of broadcasting.

There must be at least a 30 minute delay following the broadcast of any live footage by the host broadcaster (Star Sports) before this footage may be used by a news channel. News channels can interrupt regular content to broadcast footage using the caption ?Breaking News? or such equivalent, for a period not exceeding 15 seconds and for no more than one exhibition of footage within 30 minutes following the broadcast of such Live Footage by the official/host broadcaster.

This could be to report the achievement of an milestone by a player (for example, a hat-trick of wickets falling, 100 wickets being taken, or 1,000 runs being scored) or other exceptional events that may occur during any Match of the Event.
Footage the ICC says may only be used for news reporting of the results of the match and not for the purpose of analysis including by way of review or comments by experts, ex-cricketers, anchors, analysts or presenters.

News Broadcasters are not permitted to use any footage to make their own compilation or ?mix? the footage with footage from other television events, sports events, documentaries, interviews, etc. No use of any footage is permitted in any circumstances for any commercial purposes.

The news broadcaster shall not carry any advertising, sting, logo, graphic and/or any other commercial activity (including on a ticker) whatsoever immediately before, immediately after, or during the broadcast of footage (or any clip thereof) in a news programme and no association shall be created, suggested or implied between the use of footage and any third party brand or product.

Courtesy bugs acknowledging IDI and FSS must be pasted by news channel with due prominence, throughout the broadcast of any footage.

MUMBAI: New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has announced a new two-year deal with Sky TV for the broadcasting of all home domestic and international cricket matches.

The new agreement runs through to March 2014 and will include tours by England, West Indies and India. Part of the new commitment from Sky TV is to broadcast a number of domestic HRV Cup matches in the Friday night time slot.

NZC CEO David White said that he was delighted to continue the partnership with Sky and is particularly excited about the agreement to showcase HRV Cup games on Friday evenings.

"New Zealand Cricket has enjoyed a strong relationship with SKY and we are thrilled to be extending our agreement.Sky?s commitment to cricket is highlighted by their offer to broadcast HRV Cup matches on Friday evenings, helping extend the reach of our highly entertaining Twenty20 competition. Part of NZC?s mission is to have more people playing and more people watching cricket. The partnership with SKY will play a key role in delivering on that vision."

Sky Television director of sports content Richard Last said, "We are especially excited about the introduction of Friday night HRV Cup matches where we will have the opportunity to provide even greater exposure for cricket in this country. There are some of important international tours coming up, including England and India, and we are looking forward to showcasing top international cricket from New Zealand to fans around the world. We very much look forward to continuing this association over the next two years."

MUMBAI: The officials from Indian and Pakistani cricket boards have zeroed in on England as the alternate venue to host India?s return tour to Pakistan since the South Asian nation has become a no-go zone for cricketing nations after the Sri Lankan team was attacked in Lahore.

India was expected to tour Pakistan in early 2009. However, the bi-lateral series came to nought due to 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai which had the blessing of elements in the Pakistani establishment.

However, after years of deliberations and intervention from highest level to normalise bi-lateral relations between the two countries, the Indian cricket board agreed to invite Pakistan for a short series including three ODI and two T20.

The beneficiary from this abruptly scheduled series is Star India as it holds the telecast rights of international cricked played in India.

According to reports, the BCCI and PCB officials had discussed the possiblity wherein India would have acted as Pakistan?s home venue. The proposal was dropped considering the fact that it would have met with stiff resistance domestically.

The BCCI is not keen in playing Pakistan in United Arab Emirates, which has become a regular home venue for Pakistan, since the Gulf state presents security challenge.

The reason England has emerged as hot favourite to host an Indo-Pak series is due to presence of cricket loving fans besides a sizeable expat population from South Asia. The time zones also favour England since it will be evening prime time in India when the matches are aired on channels.

Ten Sports, which holds the Pakistan board rights till 2013, will wish India to be reciprocal in accepting the return bi-lateral series that is rated higher than the Ashes rivalry between England and Australia.

MUMBAI: Broadcasting major Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) expects to cut down its sports losses this fiscal to Rs 700 million as subscription revenues are showing strong growth trends.

?The distribution revenues should see an upside. International syndication, including Pakistan and the Middle East, should look up. The cricketing lineup is also reasonable. There could also the possibility of a series between India and Pakistan in the fiscal,? a source said.

The live telecast of cricket properties in FY?13 include series like Sri Lanka-England and West Indies-Australia (April 2012); Sri Lanka-Pakistan (May-June); West Indies-New Zealand and Sri Lanka-India (July-August); Zimbabwe-Bangladesh (August-September); Zimbabwe-Pakistan and Sri Lanka-New Zealand (November-December); South Africa-New Zealand (December 2012-January 2013); and South Africa-Pakistan , Sri Lanka-Bangladesh and West Indies-Zimbabwe (February-March 2013).

The prime revenue from cricket will be from the India-Sri Lanka series. The company is targeting ad revenue of Rs800 million from the series. There is only one India-playing series this fiscal.

A weakening rupee , though, remains a concern. The weakening of the rupee had upset Zeel?s early guidance of capping sports losses at Rs 1 billion in the previous fiscal. Hit by forex losses to the tune of Rs 270-Rs 280 million, the company ended FY?12 with a loss of Rs 1.48 billion from its sports broadcasting business on a revenue of Rs 3.93 billion.

?Ten Sports (the sports broadcasting arm of Zeel) has seen a 13 per cent increase in content cost due to the softening of the Indian currency. When the content deals were signed, the rupee was around Rs 44 to a dollar,? a source said.

For the fiscal ended March 2011, Zeel?s sports losses stood at Rs 2.08 billion on a revenue of Rs 4.4 billion.