Digicel, SportsMax marriage promises mega benefits to viewers
TELECOMMUNICATIONS giant Digicel is a step closer to its ambition of becoming the top communications company in the region with the acquisition of the Caribbean sports cable network SportsMax.
Digicel Jamaica CEO Barry O’Brien, who was speaking at a press briefing at the Usain Bolt-owned Tracks and Records yesterday, told the Jamaica Observer the feedback to the announcement of the merger has been most positive.
“It's a truly great merger. We were brought together for the love of sports.
Digicel is the number one mobile company and our ambition is to become the number one communications company,” said O'Brien.
Digicel has acquired majority ownership and control of St Lucia-based International Media Content Ltd, the parent company of regional sports broadcaster, SportsMax, and North American broadcaster CEENTV, for an undisclosed sum.
Under the terms of the deal, the founder and a number of the lead principals, will continue to have an ownership stake and will be involved in the day-to-day running of the IMC operation.
“The feedback has been very positive. Most people when they see Digicel coming into things know it's going to be bigger and better and we are not going to do it halfway,” said O'Brien, before relaxing to watch the Manchester City/Chelsea English Premier League clash at the upscale sports bar.
“We are going to grow SportsMax. Our vision is everybody with a tablet or a mobile (phone) will be able to watch sports wherever they want to go and they will have the best in class, high definition sports and local content as well,” he added. SportsMax, which was formed in 2002, is a sports channel that is transmitted regionally to 23 countries through cable operators in the Caribbean.
It had brought to viewers over the years, the Barclays Premier League, the FIFA World Cup, The UEFA Champions League, World Cup Qualifiers, COPA America, West Indies away tours, the Indian Premier League, The Australian Big Bash, The ASHES as well as all international cricket from Australia, India, New Zealand, and England.
They have also had scheduled broadcasts of select IAAF Grand Prix meets featuring the Caribbean and the world's best athletes each season. Oliver McIntosh, SportsMax’s president and CEO, noted that it will be business as usual despite this being the beginning of a new phase for both companies.
“It all came together very rapidly between the two teams. What it means for viewers in the Caribbean who love sports, having two sports loving companies coming together, means more content in more ways,” said McIntosh. “For us it's an exciting period. It allows the SportsMax team more opportunities because we all have the same objectives,” he added.
Only recently, Digicel announced the acquisition of Telstar Cable Limited, having received the required approvals from the Broadcasting Commission.
Telstar Cable Limited is a leading provider of cable TV, broadband and fixed telephony services in Jamaica. With the deal completed, Digicel will progress its plans to invest significantly in the network to increase coverage and further expand the products, services and content available to cable customers in Jamaica.
“It's a very important component of our strategy to become this full communications company and it ties very nicely into the subscriber television business we are actually entering into. So what we will have is subscriber television and we will have content as well.
Then we are enabling this with ultra quick fibre roll out along with fix lines so you will be able to get an entire solution here,” noted O'Brien.
SOURCE- JAMAICA OBSERVER
FIFA ethics judge hesitates on World Cup
For Qatar or Russia to be stripped of the World Cup, a key person in the legal chain needs to make use of the powers available to him.
Events of recent days, however, suggest FIFA's independent ethics judge Joachim Eckert will interpret the rules more cautiously and have added to the pessimism of critics who want the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting awards overturned.
Eckert is a middle man in the process — between Michael Garcia, the ethics prosecutor who must provide the evidence, and FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who heads the 27-member executive committee and Congress of 209 national associations.
It may fall to Eckert — in the toughness of his verdicts and language of his final report — to raise public pressure on FIFA to take the highest-risk, highest-reward options in a case that will define the reputation of football's world governing body.
"That is not our job," Eckert said at FIFA last Friday, when giving his most detailed insight yet on the investigation. "We will not make any recommendations."
Ever since a 22-man FIFA executive committee chose Russia and Qatar in December 2010, critics have sought reasons to justify change.
Source-AP
US Sprinter Wallace Spearmon Suspended For 3 Months
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has slapped American sprinter Wallace Spearmon with a three-month suspension after the US Olympian failed a drug test in July.
The 29-year-old Spearmon tested positive for Methylprednisolone during an international track meet on July 6 in Edmonton, Canada.
Spearmon claimed the anti-inflammatory drug was in a prescription he was taking and that he didn’t know that it was on USADA’s and the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list.
Spearmon could have asked for a therapeutic exemption to continue taking the drug but failed to do so.
“After a thorough review of the case, including Spearmon’s medical records, USADA has accepted Spearmon’s explanation that the Methylprednisolone was not being used in an effort to enhance his performance,” USADA said.
His suspension began August 27 meaning he will be eligible to compete again in just nine weeks.
Spearmon took fourth place in the 200 metres final at the 2012 Olympics in London.
He reached the semi-finals of the 2013 World Championships in Moscow. His personal best for 200m is 19.65sec.
Johnny Depp’s fiancée Amber Heard latest victim of hacked explicit photos
Pervy hackers struck again Sunday, this time leaking a cache of X-rated photos and video of Johnny Depp’s fiancée.
More than 50 explicit images stolen from model Amber Heard popped up on the Internet sites 4Chan and Reddit.
The pilfered videos show the 28-year-old blond Texan, whose mother is an Internet researcher, participating in an apparent threesome and smoking what looks like a bong.
In one topless photo, Heard holds a sign reading “Tonto” — apparently referring Depp, 51, who played the character in “The Lone Ranger” last year, according to TMZ.
The pictures also include shots of Heard and Depp performing a sexy bedroom scene in the 2011 film “The Rum Diary.”
The images were leaked a day after mysterious hackers dropped racy pictures of reality star Kim Kardashian and actress Venessa Hudgens online.
There was no immediate word from Heard, but newlywed actress Gabrielle Union, 41, and Miami Heat hoops star Dwayne Wade spoke out about the invasion of privacy by “vultures.”
“For anyone out there also being affected by these and other hacking and hate crimes — we send out love, support and prayers,” the couple said. “We have done nothing wrong.”
The massive hacking scandal began over Labor Day weekend, when dozens of photos of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence in the nude — and 100 other celebs in compromising positions — were stolen from private accounts and put on the Internet.
The FBI has launched an investigation, but no suspects have been named.
Meagan Good responds to leaked nude photos
Meagan Good is speaking out after having her private photos stolen and posted online.
The "Think Like A Man" actress, 33, confirmed the authenticity of photos stolen from her smartphone and posted to share sites Reddit and 4chan.com in an apparently targeted hacking over the weekend.
"I'm definitely in shock (and) saddened for everyone who is experiencing this," she wrote in an Instagram post Sunday. "At the end of the day, we all know these pictures were for my husband."
Good married Sony/Columbia movie executive DeVon Franklin in 2012. Her husband is also a Christian preacher and author.
"Oh, yeah — and for everyone who's reposting the leaked nudes? You should be ashamed of yourself."
Good's "Think Like A Man" costar Gabrielle Union was also targeted in the recent photo hacking, and released a statement with her husband Dwyane Wade condemning the crime.
"It has come to our attention that our private moments, that were shared and deleted solely between my husband and myself, have been leaked by some vultures," the newlywed couple said in a statement, obtained by TMZ.
The second celebrity photo hacking incident comes three weeks after the massive leak that targeted over 100 stars — including Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney.
Gabrielle Union Confirms Nude Leaked Photos
American Actress Gabrielle Union has confirmed that topless and nude photos she sent to her basketball star husband Dwayne Wade have somehow been leaked onto the internet – and now her legal team will be contacting the FBI.
She and Wade released a statement saying, “it has come to our attention that our private moments, that were shared and deleted solely between my husband and myself, have been leaked by some vultures.”
They continued, “I can’t help but to be reminded that since the dawn of time women and children, specifically women of color, have been victimized, and the power over their own bodies taken from them. These atrocities against women and children continue worldwide.”
Union was not the only celeb to have her privacy breached. Topless photos of what appears to be model Emily Ratajkowski and Jenny McCarthy were also leaked online along with nude photos of what appears to be Kate Bosworth and Lake Bell.
The couple added, “For anyone out there also being affected by these and other hacking and hate crimes – We send our love, support and prayers. We have done nothing wrong.”
Keyshia Cole Arrested on Suspicion of Battery
Grammy-nominated R&B singer Keyshia Cole has been arrested on suspicion of battery after an alleged altercation early Friday morning in Los Angeles.
A spokeswoman for the LAPD confirms that Cole was arrested around 5 a.m. after someone initiated a private person’s arrest. The 32-year-old was booked on suspicion of battery and released from custody Friday afternoon.
Police did not release any further details about the incident.
TMZ, meanwhile, reports that Cole allegedly assaulted a woman she encountered at the condominium of a man she is reportedly dating.
An email message sent to Cole’s publicist was not immediately returned.
Cole’s second album, 2007’s Just Like You, produced the songs “Let It Go,” ”I Remember” and “Heaven Sent.”
Alma mater rejects Nicki's offer to speak to young girls
Nicki - whose highly sexual video for Anaconda has been criticised in some sections of the media - wanted to do it because of the positive experience she had herself at the educational facility, but she was told she wasn't welcome.
Revealing the snub in a series of Twitter posts, she wrote: "That school changed my life and I wanted to pay it forward to the students there now. I was really looking forward to it ... I guess I'm not good enough ... I wanted to go back to my HS and speak to the students but the new principal declined. No need for me to inspire them, I guess. Smh (sic)"
Her follower @JorianTM tweeted her the message: "@NICKIMINAJ wooow that's so unfair. Did he give any reason why? (sic)". To which Nicki, 31, replied: "It's a WOMAN. And not really (sic)".
Many of the pop star's fans posted messages of support following her revelation.
User @RayYoWTF posted: "Does she not know how much Nicki impacts this generation?"
While @ACminaj95 credited Nicki with motivating him to go to university, tweeting: "Because of Nicki's drive, I applied to two universities. Like I never thought I'd be at that point in my life. (sic)"
Following her posts, the New York City Department of Education has made the decision to investigate Nicki's claim.
World basketball body eases headgear ban
Basketball's governing body has relaxed rules banning players wearing headgear after criticism it discriminated on religious grounds.
FIBA says it launched a two-year trial before possibly deciding on permanent rule changes after the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Existing rules prohibit "headgear, hair accessories and jewellery," and allow only a five-centimetre headband to control hair and sweat.
Muslim and Sikh players said this was discrimination and were supported by the United States Olympic Committee and India's government.
FIBA says it will send member federations details on how to apply for exceptions in domestic matches.
Players in FIBA 3x3 events can ask approval for headgear that does not threaten their own or opponents' safety.
FIBA says it will review next year whether to allow "tests at the lowest official international level."
No US combat mission against IS in Iraq
President Barack Obama has told an audience of US troops their comrades fighting Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq will not have a combat mission.
Mr Obama said he would not commit "to fighting another ground war in Iraq".
But he said the US had the "unique abilities" to respond to IS, including air support for Iraqi and Kurdish fighters on the ground.
The US has already undertaken 162 air strikes against IS in Iraq since mid-August.
But Mr Obama's new strategy allows similar attacks in Syria, and calls on a coalition of 40 countries to confront the militant group.
The president's reassurance to soldiers at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, came a day after a top US general suggested he would recommend US ground troops in the fight against IS if the international campaign of air strikes failed.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Martin Dempsey confirmed that under the current plan, US military advisers would help the Iraqi army to plan attacks against IS, also known as Isil and Isis.
The jihadist group controls large areas of Syria and northern Iraq. It has between 20,000 and 31,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria, according to CIA estimates.