News in Brief from The Sports Business Daily

New player on campus
Fox Networks Group will rebrand its Fox Sports Digital Nets into three new services called Fox College Sports, designated in the Atlantic, Central and Pacific regions of the country. The channels will air a mix of live and taped college sporting events as well as other events. Fox’s digital sports nets are in about 3 million homes. The announcement drew an immediate response from College Sports Television, which has about 7 million subscribers. CSTV President Brian Bedol told USA Today, “It sounds to me like [the] announcement is a desperation ploy to save a failing business and to intimidate CSTV. They pursued us aggressively over a year.” FSN President Bob Thompson said, “We never made a proposal to acquire CSTV.”

Blank buys into AFL
Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank agreed in principle to buy the AFL Georgia Force from owner Virgil Williams. Ownership of the team will change hands in August, and Williams will maintain a minority interest in the team for four years. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the Force will move its operations to the Falcons’ offices, and Falcons staff, mainly those in ticket sales and marketing, will now also work on behalf of the Force.

ESPN nears LPGA renewal

Votaw

IRL extends with Disney
ABC Sports and ESPN extended through 2009 their shared rights deal to cover the IRL’s IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis 500. The networks have broadcast the IRL since the series began competition in 1996. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

ESPN’s Mark Reilly (left) and Mark Quenzel, IRL’s Tony George, ABC’s Loren Matthews, IRL’s Ken Ungar

For more, visit our sister publication, The Sports Business Daily, at www.sportsbusinessdaily.com.