Associated Press

Story posted on March 10, 2009

LONDON (AP) – PA Sport, a sports news agency, said Friday it has agreed to sell its SportsTicker service to STATS LLC, a U.S.-based global sports information provider co-owned by News Corp. and The Associated Press.

PA Sport did not disclose how much STATS paid for SportsTicker, which is officially licensed to distribute statistics from the NFL, NBA, NHL, major league baseball and the PGA Tour to hundreds of newspapers, Web sites and broadcast outlets.

The sale means that all but a handful of SportsTicker's roughly 115 employees will lose their jobs, according to STATS chief executive Gary Walrath.

The sale of the business marks a reversal of PA Sport's attempts to venture into North America, coming just three years after it acquired the unit from ESPN.

ESPN, a unit of Walt Disney Co., remains a major client, as do Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Fox Sports. ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said the company generally doesn't comment on its content providers.

Based in Britain, PA Sport is part of the PA Group, which includes The Press Association, the national news agency for the United Kingdom and Ireland.

As part of the new deal, PA Sport will become the exclusive distributor of STATS' content in Britain. Walrath said SportsTicker also will give STATS access to a wider range of customers and broaden the statistics it offers. For instance, SportsTicker provides a greater selection of standings for minor league baseball, Walrath said.

While the deal combines two of the biggest players in the sports statistics and information market, Walrath said he doesn't envision any antitrust concerns, given that both companies are relatively small, and sports leagues distribute statistics on their own as well.

A Justice Department spokeswoman didn't return messages seeking comment Friday. An AP spokesman referred questions to Walrath.

STATS is the product of a 2005 joint venture between the AP and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. combining sports news, statistics and other content. Each organization owns half the business.

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