MUMBAI: Motorvision TV, part of Motorvision Group, will launch in Malaysia, Mongolia and Sri Lanka beginning September.

The pay TV platforms that will launch Motorvision TV include: Asia Broadcasting Network - Malaysia, Sky C&C - Mongolia and Sky - Sri Lanka.

"In Asia there are over 450 million pay TV subscription homes and more than half of the pay TV subscribers worldwide live in Asia. With pay TV growing strongly in Asia, it is important for Motorvision TV to be present in this dynamic region and through our partnership with MCA the fact that we are able to start broadcasting in three territories is absolutely sensational," says Motorvision TV MD Raimund K?hler.

MCA, which is Asia‘s leading distributor of independent pay TV channels, represents Motorvision TV besides Bloomberg Television, ITV Granada, KidsCo, NDTV 24, NDTV Profit, NDTV Good Times and NDTV India among others. The Singapore-based company also owns and operates the channels Havoc 247 and Outdoor Channel Asia.

"Each of these deals underscore the value in a multi channel universe of a clear and differentiated programming proposition like Motorvision TV as well as the popularity of the car and motoring genre. It‘s been a few short months since we launched Motorvision TV in Asia and we are seeing a roll-out of launches that have exceeded even our most bullish expectations," says Multi Channels Asia (MCA) MD Gregg Creevey.

MUMBAI: Glory Sports International, the owner and rights holder of the Glory World Series kickboxing championship, has agreed to acquire Dutch-based competitor, ?It?s Showtime,? led by the European fight manager and kickboxing promoter Simon Rutz.

The landmark deal will effectively place all of the world?s top kickboxers, or stand-up fighters, under the same promotional umbrella. GSI will absorb other assets from and take over management of ?It?s Showtime.?

"This is what the world of stand-up fighting has been waiting for - all the top fighters competing in the same series each time to find out who is really the very best,? said GSI MD Marcus Luer, who also owns Asian sports marketing company Total Sports Asia.

The Glory World Series is the world?s premier kickboxing league, staging events across the globe and offering up to $1,000,000 in prize money to successful fighters in the 16-man grand prix tournaments which are open to only the very best fighters in each weight class.

With television deals spanning every continent plus an online streaming system, Glory claims to be the world?s most widely-broadcast sporting organisations already.

"By adding ?It?s Showtime?, Glory has truly established itself as the No. 1 kickboxing league in the world. This is what the fans have been waiting for and we are here to deliver it. Glory will soon announce a new series of events and a modernized tournament format for the rest of the year and for 2013," continued Luer.

Owned and operated by Glory Sports International (GSI), the organisation has offices in Holland, the United Kingdom, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Its personnel include prominent hedge-fund investors, the pioneering sports marketing agency Total Sport Asia and several executives from the Golden Glory team.

MUMBAI: Malaysia has come out with new guidelines that mandates broadcast rights holders of sports events of ?national significance? to share content with free-to-air channels in order to provide widest possible coverage and enable all citizens to access the content.

The broadcaster who acquired the broadcasting rights to the sports events of national significance shall offer such rights to FTA broadcasters who will have the first right of refusal over the sports events of national significance?s broadcasting rights, the Minister of Communications and Culture said in its notification.

Whenever there are no FTA broadcasters acquiring the broadcasting rights, the broadcasters shall offer such rights to pay-TV broadcasters. The offer of the broadcasting rights shall be based on reasonable commercial terms, the notification added.

Talking to reporters after attending a launch event, IC&C Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said, "Sports that have a mass appeal like the Olympics, badminton, football and other major sporting events would not be allowed to be monopolised by any one station but such broadcast content must be shared."

Among the sporting events that have been accorded the status of national significance includes Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, and South East Asian Games.

The broadcasters will also have to share final matches of Badminton events like Thomas Cup, Uber Cup, and BWF Super Series; Football events like AFC Asian Cup, Fifa World Cup and English Premier League among others.

According to analysts in the country, the biggest beneficiary of the new content sharing rules will be Telekom Malaysia while satellite television operator Astro is likely to take a big hit.

Meanwhile, new digital cable TV operator Asian Broadcasting Network has welcomed the new rules contending that the it will lead to a stronger interest in sports among Malaysians.

"We look forward to more comprehensive details on how the collaboration framework could operate in the industry as well as regular regulatory review and industry discussion on how to move this forward," a Telekom Malaysia spokesman said.