Horseracing channel Racing UK teamed up with mobile network provider Vodafone to enable the Vodafone Derby to become the first leading UK sports event to be broadcast live on mobile phones. Under the terms of the agreement, Vodafone made available live coverage of all races at the 2005 Vodafone Derby Festival to Vodafone live! 3G customers in the UK. Coverage concentrated on a 'live' window beginning one minute prior to the start of each race and ending one minute after the horses passed the winning post, at a charge of £0.50 per day. The partnership with Vodafone is an important step in Racing UK’s plans to exploit new media opportunities. The channel is currently working in partnership with Sportev, the leading wireless sports agency who also has contracts with the FA Premier League and England Rugby, to develop a mobile solution that will enable punters to watch video of all races and bet from their mobile phones.
Online ticketing for Liverpool FC
Following English Premiership soccer club Liverpool FC’s victory in the UEFA Champions League Final, membership and ticket applications for the club are set to soar. But the Reds are already a step ahead, utilising software that is helping the club to allocate tickets on a fair basis, improve customer service and reduce the costs of processing the deluge of ticket applications. Liverpool is one of many clubs selling its tickets in-house, using a software system developed specifically for sports clubs, TALENT Sport, that runs on the IBM iSeries platform on an 810 server. All tickets the club sells - whether through the club website, over the phone or at the counter - are sold through TALENT from same inventory in real-time. Selling online is becoming an increasingly important channel for the club, with up to 25% of the available match tickets being sold through the club’s website. Last season was the first time Liverpool FC offered renewals over the website, with 10-12% of all renewals carried out online.
French Open in HDTV trial
GlobeCast participated in a high-definition (HD) trial during the French Open tennis championship in early June. The operation, led by France Television and Sony with the collaboration of GlobeCast, Eutelsat and the Fédération Française de Tennis, offered a unique occasion to demonstrate that HD is ready for prime time and that all links in the chain of HD broadcasting have been mastered - from capturing to broadcasting and reception. France Television shot and transmitted all semi-final matches live from the Philippe Chatrier central court on 2 and 3 June 2005. GlobeCast simultaneously provided fibre connectivity of the uncompressed HD images from the French Open to France Television’s headquarters as well as to a showroom at GlobeCast's Paris headquarters and the HD Forum in neighbouring Boulogne. The live feed was then transmitted on a Eutelsat satellite via an experimental channel set up by the HD Forum.
Video displays successfully light up the Allianz Arena
German LED screen provider Engel has successfully installed two large video screens at Munich’s new Allianz Arena. Each display measures in at 92.16m² and will provide entertainment to fans of Bayern Munich, 1860 Munich and fans from around the world during the FIFA World Cup 2006. Both displays are mounted under the Allianz Arena’s futuristic roof construction.
Aura Sports appointed by FLi
FL Interactive (FLi), a wholly owned subsidiary of The Football League, has appointed specialist digital sports agency, Aura Sports as its Official third party sales partner. FLi is the digital rights holder for seventy-seven English and Welsh soccer clubs, including six from the FA Premier League, 67 from The Football League and four from the Nationwide Conference. FLi was created to manage and develop the internet and mobile rights of its participating clubs, and is the UK's largest digital soccer rights holder. The FLi network, run by Premium TV, is also the largest soccer information service in the UK with almost 3m individuals accessing the network on a monthly basis.
Squash coverage set to grow
SquashTalk has agreed a deal with Martin Bronstein, dean of the squash press corps and chief writer for Squashtalk.com that is set to bring an increased level of coverage of major squash events worldwide to the online squash community. According to terms of the agreement, Bronstein's news and analysis of the squash world will appear exclusively on the internet on www.squashtalk.com. Bronstein will continue to write on a selective basis for print media such as SquashPlayer Magazine and Squash Magazine, but his efforts will be focused on increasing the breadth and depth of information available to squash fans and observers worldwide via the internet on SquashTalk. Previously, Bronstein had split his online efforts between SquashNow, SquashPlayer and SquashTalk. This new agreement will consolidate his reporting onto one online address.
HD project for the BBC
BBC Outside Broadcasts will capture top international women's tennis tournament - The Hastings Direct International Championships 2005 - in HD for BBC Sport. Staged by the Lawn Tennis Association at Devonshire Park in Eastbourne, the competition is one of the most prestigious women's tournaments on the international tennis calendar. It will be the first time BBC Sport has produced a sporting event in HD for broadcast. The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final on 16, 17 and 18 June will be captured in HD for future use and will be broadcast in Standard Definition (SD) on BBC Two and BBC One in the UK. With plans to capture the FIFA World Cup in HD in 2006 and the Beijing Olympics in 2008, BBC Sport wants to remain ahead of the game and is working in partnership with BBC Outside Broadcasts to deliver in HD. They also have aspirations to capture the Wimbledon Centre Court action in HD in 2006. BBC Outside Broadcasts will use its’ multi-format truck - Unit 2 to cover the centre court action at Eastbourne. Launched in 2004, Unit 2 has dual systems and can be used for HD or SD productions, or for simultaneous production in both standards. Four Sony HD cameras will be used to capture the championships, as well as a Thompson Super Slow-Mo HD camera. The truck is equipped with an HD vision mixer and full HD monitoring throughout the broadcast chain. It is based on the successful type 8 chassis and can easily be parked at central London venues, where space has proved limited for expanding vehicles.
Punchy content goes online
FightNight.com, alongside Maloney Promotions, has announced that for the first time ever, a Championship title boxing event, will be available in the UK and Ireland on Setanta Sports and via pay-per-view on www.fightnight.com. The hotly anticipated event between British champion, Graham Earl and Commonwealth champion, Kevin Bennett, will take place on Sunday 19 June in Bethnal Green at the York Hall, London. In all, seven bouts are on the bill and all will be shown in their entirety live on both the televised broadcast and the webcast during the action packed three-hour event. Televised coverage of the fight is available in the UK and Ireland through Setanta pay-per-view on the Sky Digital for £8.99. Webcasting will be provided through www.fightnight.com and can be seen throughout the world for £4.99. FightNight.com is planning additional pay-per-view events in the future in conjunction with partner Setanta, the scope of which will be determined by the success of this initial venture. FightNight.com, alongside Maloney Promotions, staged the last boxing webcast venture in the UK five years ago that drew 650,000 viewers.
Naming rights deal for O2
O2, the mobile phone company, has announced it will pay £6m a year to sponsor 'The O2' as the rechristened Millennium Dome in London will be known from now on. Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), a provider of live entertainment and sports facilities, and O2 will work together to rejuvenate the former Millennium Dome and the surrounding area, turning it into one of the UK’s premier venues when the entertainment arena reopens in April 2007. If London wins the right to host the Olympic Games in 2012, 02 will lose its eponymous branding of what has been designated as a host venue during the two weeks of the event.
Madrid 2012 in e-mail campaign
Madrid 2012 and MSN Espana have signed an agreement to work together on an online project, which supports Madrid’s bid for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. MSN will allow people to use their e-mail service to write support messages for Madrid 2012 which will then be forwarded to the International Olympic Committee five days before the 6 July vote for the 2012 host city. MSN Espana will offer MSN Messenger users instant message, a special ‘buddies’ menu.
Page from ArkSports' Sport and Technology (www.sportandtechnology.com) on 2008-11-21 : News - June 2005 : http://www.sportandtechnology.com/news/0279.html
Horseracing channel Racing UK teamed up with mobile network provider Vodafone to enable the Vodafone Derby to become the first leading UK sports event to be broadcast live on mobile phones. Under the terms of the agreement, Vodafone made available live coverage of all races at the 2005 Vodafone Derby Festival to Vodafone live! 3G customers in the UK. Coverage concentrated on a 'live' window beginning one minute prior to the start of each race and ending one minute after the horses passed the winning post, at a charge of £0.50 per day. The partnership with Vodafone is an important step in Racing UK’s plans to exploit new media opportunities. The channel is currently working in partnership with Sportev, the leading wireless sports agency who also has contracts with the FA Premier League and England Rugby, to develop a mobile solution that will enable punters to watch video of all races and bet from their mobile phones. 
GlobeCast participated in a high-definition (HD) trial during the French Open tennis championship in early June. The operation, led by France Television and Sony with the collaboration of GlobeCast, Eutelsat and the Fédération Française de Tennis, offered a unique occasion to demonstrate that HD is ready for prime time and that all links in the chain of HD broadcasting have been mastered - from capturing to broadcasting and reception. France Television shot and transmitted all semi-final matches live from the Philippe Chatrier central court on 2 and 3 June 2005. GlobeCast simultaneously provided fibre connectivity of the uncompressed HD images from the French Open to France Television’s headquarters as well as to a showroom at GlobeCast's Paris headquarters and the HD Forum in neighbouring Boulogne. The live feed was then transmitted on a Eutelsat satellite via an experimental channel set up by the HD Forum. 
German LED screen provider Engel has successfully installed two large video screens at Munich’s new Allianz Arena. Each display measures in at 92.16m² and will provide entertainment to fans of Bayern Munich, 1860 Munich and fans from around the world during the FIFA World Cup 2006. Both displays are mounted under the Allianz Arena’s futuristic roof construction. 
O2, the mobile phone company, has announced it will pay £6m a year to sponsor 'The O2' as the rechristened Millennium Dome in London will be known from now on. Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), a provider of live entertainment and sports facilities, and O2 will work together to rejuvenate the former Millennium Dome and the surrounding area, turning it into one of the UK’s premier venues when the entertainment arena reopens in April 2007. If London wins the right to host the Olympic Games in 2012, 02 will lose its eponymous branding of what has been designated as a host venue during the two weeks of the event.
