Sport and Technology: The Conference 2006 announcement
BT Media and Broadcast, the digital media and broadcast services arm of global communications company BT, is delighted to announce that it is taking over as title sponsor of Sport and Technology: The Conference, from sister company BT Rich Media. Devised, produced and managed by ArkSports, publisher of leading industry e-newsletter Sport and Technology, the eponymous 2006 edition will take place on 23 February at BT Centre in London. The inaugural sell-out edition was held in March 2005 to great acclaim, comprising speakers from BSkyB, The English Premier League, the US PGA Tour, The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, the BBC, Betfair, Olympic Games IT sponsor ATOS Origin, T-Mobile and Plazamedia among others, with a closing address provided by Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the International Cricket Council. Sport and Technology readers are invited to nominate speakers and subjects for the panel discussions by e-mailing S&T editor and conference chair Rachael Church at rchurch@arksports.com. Further information will be announced at www.sportandtechnologyconference.com and directly to S&T subscribers.
Olympic mobile rights up for tender
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has launched the tender process of the European mobile media rights for the Olympic Games of 2006 and 2008. Interested parties can now bid for the rights to deliver moving images of the Olympic Games in Torino and Beijing, via live and on-demand rights packages to mobile telephone devices. The rights packages are available on a single country or a group of countries basis.
Manchester United uses mobile campaign to sell new away kit
Manchester United’s mobile division, MUmobile, and mobile media content provider FoneStarz, have launched a mobile marketing campaign to sell the soccer club’s new away strip to its worldwide fans. A key part of the club’s marketing platform, the new campaign marks the first time Manchester United has used mobile marketing to promote a new kit and the first time its global fan base will be able to purchase strips via their mobile phones. Any of the estimated 75m Manchester United fans can now visit www.manutd.com on the internet or wap.mumobile.co.uk on their mobile phone to sign up for the SMS alerts and to pre-order the new uniform for delivery on launch day. MUmobile, is a joint business between Manchester United and Vodafone. It is the official Manchester United mobile service and product portfolio which provides text alerts, ringtones, wallpapers, mobile games, video highlights and a series of mobile personalisation applications to Manchester United fans both on and off the Vodafone network.
New digest for Stan James
Gibraltar-based bookmaker Stan James has launched a new audio visual information feature on its website at www.stanjames.com. Provided by the Irish media production company, SonicArt, the feature delivers a 90 second daily presentation to the Stan James site users advising them of the offers, markets and features available at the sportsbook and also cross-pollinating in to its growing casino, poker and gamesroom channels. The ground-breaking streaming content includes a voiceover, background music and animated text. It is accessible on dial up connections as well as broadband.
IAAF World Championships online to the US
For the first time ever, athletics fans in the USA and US territories have been able to watch an unprecedented 58 hours of live webcast coverage of the 2005 IAAF World Championships, plus archived footage and broadcast highlights. The live webcast of all nine days of World Championships competition, held between 6-14 August in Helsinki, Finland, has been available in the US and US territories for only $4.95. The live webcast, available to all World Championships Webcast subscribers has been made possible by a cooperation between World Championship Sports Network, Major League Baseball Advanced Media, the IAAF and its marketing partner Dentsu, USATF and others.
BT Media and Broadcast goes the distance
BT Media and Broadcast, the digital media and broadcast services arm of BT, and RaceTech, supplier of technical services to the horse racing industry, have signed a new contract that will see BT deliver all of RaceTech's broadcast requirements until 2010. As part of the agreement, BT will utilise the latest multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) technology to provide a high quality transmission network from 31 racecourses throughout the UK. The bespoke network will enable RaceTech to deliver live race meetings from as far a field as Ayr in Scotland and Bangor in Wales, with all the content switched and monitored from the International Media Centre, BT Tower, London.
Gravity to leverage casual game portal
Online game developer and distributor Gravity is to launch Stylia, an online game portal in conjunction with partner Sonnori. An open beta service of Stylia is expected to start in October 2005 following the first closed beta service of its game 'TV Heroes' and the second closed beta service of 'Love Forty', another Stylia game. In addition, Stylia is providing a software development kit to various developers, which is designed to help each developer to build a quick and convenient game development system. Separately, Gravity plans to launch a new casual gaming line based on an animation character, 'Pucca', created by Vooz.
BusinessF1 Forum attracts key industry speakers and participants.
The BusinessF1 Forum is growing from strength to strength as more key industry personnel are confirming their participation on 16 and 17 November 2006 in Monte Carlo. Julian Jakobi, deputy chairman of CSS Stellar, who has spent over 20 years at the forefront of Formula One, has accepted the role of Conference Chair for the inaugural BusinessF1 Forum 2005. The Shanghai International Circuit will be exhibiting and participating in the seminars as are the Circuit de Catalunya. The organisers have appointed various Media Partners for the event including, Sports Business Magazine, Sportcal, Sport and Technology and BusinessF1 Magazine. Email: info@businessf1forum.com Web: www.businessf1forum.com
MLB.com launches new arcade section
MLB.com has now opened the MLB.com Arcade, offering fans hundreds of popular internet gaming titles, with literally thousands of hours of free gameplay available across more than 750 products. The new MLB.com Arcade, in addition to MLB.com developed original games, offers all the online game favourites including Scrabble, Zuma, Civilization and more, with new titles being added regularly. The first of what will be many baseball offerings being developed by MLB.com, is ‘MLB.com Playball’. Fans can download the free trial version and get a feel for it, and then buy the full version for $19.99. MLB has also signed a new eight-year deal with ESPN New Media, for the provision of baseball content to the US cable broadcaster's main new media platforms. The deal, which began this season, includes the provision of video webcasts on both ESPN.com and the channel's Spanish-language portal, ESPN Deportes.
Toyota Cup tickets sold online
The initial phase of international ticket sales for the FIFA Club World Championship Toyota Cup Japan 2005 has kicked off and tickets are available now, exclusively via FIFA.com. In addition, the second phase of domestic ticket sales has also been launched. The competition, scheduled from 11 to 18 December 2005, will take place in the Japanese cities of Tokyo, Toyota and Yokohama and will feature Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica (CONCACAF Champions’ Cup winner), São Paulo FC of Brazil (CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores winner), Sydney FC of Australia (OFC Club Championship winner), Liverpool FC of England (UEFA Champions League winner) as well as the winners of this year’s AFC Champions League and CAF Champions League (to be determined on 31 October and 13 November respectively).
Page from ArkSports' Sport and Technology (www.sportandtechnology.com) on 2008-11-21 : News - August 2005 : http://www.sportandtechnology.com/news/0294.html
BT Media and Broadcast, the digital media and broadcast services arm of global communications company BT, is delighted to announce that it is taking over as title sponsor of Sport and Technology: The Conference, from sister company BT Rich Media. Devised, produced and managed by ArkSports, publisher of leading industry e-newsletter Sport and Technology, the eponymous 2006 edition will take place on 23 February at BT Centre in London. The inaugural sell-out edition was held in March 2005 to great acclaim, comprising speakers from BSkyB, The English Premier League, the US PGA Tour, The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, the BBC, Betfair, Olympic Games IT sponsor ATOS Origin, T-Mobile and Plazamedia among others, with a closing address provided by Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the International Cricket Council. Sport and Technology readers are invited to nominate speakers and subjects for the panel discussions by e-mailing S&T editor and conference chair Rachael Church at 
For the first time ever, athletics fans in the USA and US territories have been able to watch an unprecedented 58 hours of live webcast coverage of the 2005 IAAF World Championships, plus archived footage and broadcast highlights. The live webcast of all nine days of World Championships competition, held between 6-14 August in Helsinki, Finland, has been available in the US and US territories for only $4.95. The live webcast, available to all World Championships Webcast subscribers has been made possible by a cooperation between World Championship Sports Network, Major League Baseball Advanced Media, the IAAF and its marketing partner Dentsu, USATF and others.
The BusinessF1 Forum is growing from strength to strength as more key industry personnel are confirming their participation on 16 and 17 November 2006 in Monte Carlo. Julian Jakobi, deputy chairman of CSS Stellar, who has spent over 20 years at the forefront of Formula One, has accepted the role of Conference Chair for the inaugural BusinessF1 Forum 2005. The Shanghai International Circuit will be exhibiting and participating in the seminars as are the Circuit de Catalunya. The organisers have appointed various Media Partners for the event including, Sports Business Magazine, Sportcal, Sport and Technology and BusinessF1 Magazine.
