BT Sport announced a new deal for pubs, clubs and commercial
premises to show up to 223 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League
matches exclusively live on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. The
average independent pub will pay £394 ($612) a month for the new BT
Sport Total Pack, with BT claiming this would be a saving of 60%
compared to the Sky Sports standard price. The BT Sport Total Pack will
also be made available to hotels, with a 60-bed hotel paying £193 ($300)
a month (TELECOM PAPER, 6/9). ... German TV and film production company Plazamedia "will continue to produce the Champions League broadcasts of German public broadcaster ZDF." Plazamedia and ZDF extended their partnership, which dates back to '12, "for another three years" (DIGITAL FERNSEHEN, 6/9). ... John Inverdale has "been dropped by the BBC from hosting Wimbledon's nightly coverage." His position of anchoring the nightly "Today at Wimbledon" program has been handed over to Clare Balding. Balding last year took over Inverdale's Radio 5 Live Wimbledon presenting duties (London TELEGRAPH, 6/10). ... Former cricketer Ricky Ponting will join Sky Sports for its coverage of this summer's Investec Ashes, which will include a dedicated channel for the entire series. Ponting will
bring his insight to a BAFTA award-winning Ashes team, which includes
analysis from Ian Botham, David Gower, Michael Atherton, Nasser
Hussain, David Lloyd, Ian Ward and Michael Holding. He will also be
beside former teammate Shane Warne in the commentary box (Sky Sports). ... The U.S. Golf Association reached an agreement with LeTV. It is the USGA's first deal with a Chinese digital media company. For the following three years, the US Open, US Women's Open and US Veterans Open will be broadcast by LeTV.com, LeTV video, LeTV Sports and LeTV Mobile (YUTANG SPORTS, 6/10). ... Nigerian digital TV network StarTimes is now the country and Sub-Saharan region's exclusive broadcast sponsor of the Bundesliga following the signing of a five-year deal (THIS DAY LIVE, 6/10).
