IMG secured a new three-year deal with the Premier League for in-flight and in-ship rights from the '16-17 through '18-19 seasons, which includes live coverage of matches on IMG-owned and operated Sport 24, the only 24/7 live sports channel exclusive to the in-flight industry. The Premier League will be shown on aircraft all over the world and Sport 24 will broadcast live and recorded matches, as well as feature programming on the channel which is currently available on over 250 aircraft on airlines including Emirates, Etihad, Lufthansa, Qatar and Turkish Airlines (IMG). ... Formula E signed a partnership with Little Dot Studios to "create and distribute video content across YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Periscope." Under the partnership, Little Dot Studios will distribute social videos "including clips, highlights and compilations from each race as well as unseen footage from the pit lane and behind the scenes." Little Dot Studios will also be on site at each race, "producing original video content for each of the social platforms" (ADVANCED TELEVISION, 9/28). ... Electronic Art's FIFA 16 has "debuted at No. 1 on the U.K. all format chart for the week ending 26 Sept." According to the sales monitor Char-Track, the latest entry in the series "sold seven percent less than FIFA 15 had on its first week" (GAMESPOT, 9/28). ... Crocmedia announced that the footprint of the Hyundai A-League "expanded and signed on as official broadcast provider for the next two seasons." Crocmedia will broadcast "every Friday night match, as well as finals and other marquee fixtures," throughout the Super Radio Network to 56 markets across regional New South Wales and Southern Queensland. Crocmedia also has a number of Victorian and WA markets "covered off" (RADIOTODAY, 9/28). ... The Int'l Paralympic Committee announced it will live-stream all 70 hours of live action from the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships which will take place in Doha, Qatar, between Oct. 21-31. All morning sessions starting from 8:30am and all evening sessions from 3pm will be streamed live with commentary at www.doha2015.org (IPC). ... A study conducted by British company Kantar Media reported a cumulative record aggregated global TV viewership of 6.8 billion watched the 16th edition of the FINA World Championships held in Kazan, Russia from July 24-Aug. 9. This official figure represents a 2.3 billion increase since the last edition of the FINA World Championships, held in Barcelona in '13, where the audience was 4.5 billion. Moreover, two years ago, there was a total of 5,156 hours of dedicated coverage, while Kazan 2015 generated 5,728 hours (FINA).
