The Int'l Swimming Federation (FINA) and Infostrada Sports extended their media services agreement for another three years. The media services cover the delivery of athlete biographies year round and facts and figures for a series of FINA World Championships. FINA and Infostrada Sports have agreed on the provision of extensive biographical information on its athletes across six aquatics disciplines for the next three years. Infostrada Sports and FINA also agreed on extending the live text and facts and figures service, called SportsDesk Live, for the FINA/NVC Diving World Series and for the FINA Swimming World Cup in '15 (FINA). ... Sky Sports' "drastic cost-cutting across the board" after paying £11M ($16.5M) a match to retain Premier League rights is being blamed for the demise of the Victory Shield, the home nation's int'l U16 tournament. The FA announced this week that England is pulling out of the event "with immediate effect in order to achieve a more varied fixture list." This "surprise move" has been "prompted by Sky allegedly withdrawing its title sponsorship as well as reducing live coverage and wanting further changes to the format and another backer found" (London DAILY MAIL, 4/23).
