MUMBAI: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has landed himself in trouble for his tweet on "Jewish owned" press in America being anti-Israel.

"Why is Jewish owned press so consistently anti-Israel in every crisis?" Murdoch had tweeted.

Murdoch, whose media empire includes HarperCollins publishers, Fox television, BSkyB, The Wall Street Journal and the London Times, later apologised for the Tweet following widespread criticism.

"?Jewish owned press? have been sternly criticised, suggesting link to Jewish reporters. Don?t see this, but apologize unreservedly," Murdoch said in a tweet.

Earlier, Murdoch had criticised the media coverage of Israel?s military offensive of Palestinian territory Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas.

"I feel very strongly about the righteousness of Israeli?s cause, particularly when its citizens are under missile attack. So I do get very upset when I see coverage that I feel is unfair and biased," he said in a letter to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

"I should have stuck to the substance of the issue and not bring in irrelevant and incorrect ethnic matters."

Murdoch?s tweet drew sharp criticism from the press with Britain?s Guardian newspaper accusing Murdoch of "trying to channel the right wing?s ardent support of Israel by challenging the left wing?s more critical view of Israeli brinksmanship -- particularly as Israel appears on the verge of another invasion of Gaza".

MUMBAI: IMG Media, a division of IMG Worldwide, has secured long-term media rights deals with BSkyB, the UK?s leading sports broadcaster for both Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa.

The separate deals with the cricket boards will see England?s tour matches in Australia and South Africa shown on Sky Sports until 2016 and 2020 respectively.

IMG Asia Pacific SVP and Head of IMG Media said, "We are delighted to have concluded these deals. Sky Sports is the leading broadcaster of cricket in the UK and Ireland and they were intent on strengthening their year round coverage of the game, especially with England?s forthcoming Ashes Tour in Australia next year and tours to South Africa, the current top Test team in the world, in 2015 and 2019."

Sky Sports MD Barney Francis said, "The Ashes is one of world sport?s greatest events and we can now guarantee the next three series, home and away. Test cricket has always been core to Sky Sports and as England look to take the Test crown back from South Africa our viewers can see their next two series over there. This series of rights renewals gives us the strongest line up of live sport for our viewers to watch at home or on the move."

In addition to the Ashes series in Australia, the four-year deal for Sky Sports includes Australia?s home series with South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, India and New Zealand, plus Australia?s domestic Twenty20 Big Bash League.

Apart from England?s two tours of South Africa, Sky Sports deal includes the Test series against New Zealand, Pakistan, India, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, plus domestic Twenty20 matches.

MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council?s (ICC) global broadcast partner ESPN Star Sports and its licensing partners will take the coverage of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2012 to more than 180 countries with live broadcast of all the 10 matches to be played at Tony Ireland Stadium, Queensland, Australia.

The broadcast coverage of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2012, which will be staged from 11 to 26 August, will start with the tournament opener between defending champion Australia and arch-rival England on Saturday, 11 August, and will culminate with the final to be staged on Sunday, 26 August.

During the two-week period, fans from across the globe will be able to watch all 10 matches to be played at the Tony Ireland Stadium in Townsville. This will include coverage of five group stage matches, two Super League quarter-finals, two Super League semi-finals and the final.

ESPN STAR Sports will broadcast the matches in Indian sub-continent including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan. In Sri Lanka, Carlton Sports will telecast the matches on terrestrial network.

Ten Sports along with PTV will telecast the matches in Pakistan and in England, Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, the matches will be televised on BSkyB, while in Australia the event will be shown on Fox Sports.

ART Prime Sports will telecast the matches in the Middle East and North Africa. Sportscaster SuperSport will bring the event for audiences in Sub Saharan Africa and South Africa.

ESPN STAR Sports and its licensees will service cricket?s traditional heartlands in South Asia, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, and the coverage will also be seen across the continents of Africa and South America, and throughout the Middle East, USA and Canada.

Cricket fans in South America and Caribbean can catch the event on ESPN while Rogers Sportsnet is the broadcast partner in Canada.

In addition to this, ESPN STAR Sports will stream the games live on its website, www.espnstar.com in the territories that are not serviced by a television broadcaster. This ensures the tournament will have a reach of more than 180 territories, including mainland Europe.

ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said the scope of the worldwide broadcast coverage reflected the importance of the tournament. "The ICC U19 Cricket World Cup has become an extremely popular global event that serves both as a finishing school and a platform for showcasing the talents of our future stars."

ESS MD Peter Hutton said, "We?re absolutely delighted to be showing the next generation of cricketers to a worldwide audience as part of a remarkable year of sport on our channels, and look forward to what should be an excellent tournament."

ESPN STAR Sports has also assembled a star-studded commentary team for the tournament, including fellow ICC Cricket Hall of Fame inductees Ian Chappell of Australia and Pakistan?s Wasim Akram, as well as former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar, ex-South Africa spinner Pat Symcox and former New Zealand fast bowler Danny Morrison.

Broadcast schedule:

All matches will be played at the Tony Ireland Stadium, Townsville

MUMBAI: Facing flak for phone hacking scandal, media baron Rupert Murdoch said Britian doesn‘t appeal him anymore. Instead, the News Corp chairman is bullish on United States.

Murdoch is no longer interested in acquiring the profitable pay TV business British Sky Broadcasting, in which his company holds 39 per cent.

Pertinently, Murdoch has for a long time been pursuing the take over of BSkyB but the phone hacking scandal which engulfed at its British tabloids last year forced the company to withdraw the $12 billion bid to buy BSkyB.

?I think we have moved on in our own thinking from that,? Murdoch said to Fox Business. ?There were billions and billions of dollars and if Britain didn?t want them, we have good places to put them here. I am much more bullish on America than I am about England.?

Murdoch brushed aside suggestions that his decision had more to do with the hacking scandal, saying his confidence in the United States has a lot to do with its leadership. He also believes that Europe is going to have a long ?semi-recession, if not a real recession".