Television deal is &#39;irresponsible of the ECB&#39;
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MIKE GATTING has slammed the decision to award live TV rights for all of England&#39;s home Test matches to BSkyB as &quot;irresponsible.
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(InfoWorld) - Germany plans to introduce a monthly broadcast charge next year for homes and businesses that have an Internet-connected computer and don't already pay registration fees for television and radio service. One business association has called it "a complete rip-off." A heated debate about the fee, which also applies to Internet-enabled wireless devices and games consoles, has been raging in Germany since the minister presidents of the country's 16 states agreed to the plan in October 2005. It heated up again late Wednesday when one of the country's largest public broadcasters, ARD, announced a monthly fee of â¬5.52 ($7.00) per household and said that ZDF, another big public broadcaster, was in agreement. Under the plan, which will go into effect Jan. 1, households and businesses with a registered TV or radio are exempt from the new charge. Those without a registered broadcasting device but with an Internet-enabled PC, wireless device, or game console capable of receiving broadcasting content must pay the new fee. Germany isn't alone on this front. Ireland also plans to extend the definition of a TV set to include PCs, laptops and mobile phones under a new broadcasting bill, which was published for public consultation earlier this month. And the issue is likely to arise in other countries that use a broadcasting fee to help finance their state-funded public broadcasters. The planned fee in Germany, although lower than the â¬17.03 monthly charge initially proposed, has nevertheless drawn sharp criticism from numerous industry groups in the country. The German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (Bitkom) has called it "a rotten compromise that is being cemented into a payment scheme long overdue for change." The association calculates that over a four-year period, a PC would generate fee-based costs of more than â¬800 -- nearly the net price of the machine. German businesses could be burdened with additional costs of more than â¬150 million annually. The Federal Association of Small and Medium-size Businesses in Germany views an extension of the broadcasting fee as an attempt to force companies to help plug holes in the dwindling coffers of public broadcasters. The association called the move "a complete rip-off." Although the fee calls for a review in three years to take into account new technological developments, such as mobile phones capable of receiving broadcasts signals, German businesses worry that once a fee is introduced in the country, it's likely to stay.
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One of Italy's top cycling officials says doping allegations against Ivan Basso are unsupportable.
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BOMBAY: A controversial $308-million deal to broadcast India&#39;s home cricket matches fell through yesterday after the country&#39;s cricket board said there was no binding contract and it may re-tender the rights.
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European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet today repeated that the euro&#39;s rise against the dollar is unwelcome and said intervention in foreign exchange markets &quot;is a weapon&quot; that is available to central banks.
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IT IS one of the oldest complaints in the book. While Britain plays scrupulously by the rules in Europe, everyone else is nakedly looking after their own national self-interest.
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Media & professional: The BBC's most recent revelations could lead to real problems with trust, reports James Robinson.
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&quot;I hope and think that in the end a solution will be found and it will be on as usual,&quot; Mosley told BBC Sport. &quot;At the moment, as I understand it, there is still no contract between Bernie and the organisers.
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They are asking the European Union Council to reject this proposal. They claim that software patent directive would be harmful to the European economy.
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The company, which publishes TV Guide magazine, hired UBS Investment Bank as a financial adviser. It gave no timeline for making a decision.
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Graham Thorpe has criticised the decision of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to press ahead with the team's controversial trip to Zimbabwe.
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The European Commission faces a battle with sport's governing bodies over its ability to regulate sport.
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The Government today rounded on the BBC and terrestrial broadcasters for turning their backs on English cricket. Although Five will show highlights as part of the Â£220million
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ECB tries to pass the buck Privacy authorities are holding the European Central Bank (ECB) to account for its failure to protect European interests from an invasion of privacy when US agents were searching for terrorist financiers.â¦
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The current status of the eurozone's Stability and Growth Pact is "intolerable," since the agreement lacks the ammunition it needs to be taken seriously, the European Central Bank chief economist Otmar Issing ...
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UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said it would be ``irresponsible&#39;&#39; to offer guarantees that there won&#39;t be tax increases, while refuting accusations his spending plans aren&#39;t affordable.
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FRANKFURT At the end of a year that has seen a tepid European economic recovery shaken by high oil prices and a strong currency, the European Central Bank is facing a dilemma for which the best solution may simply be to wait.