Albania has joined North Korea in becoming only the second country in the world where broadcasters have not been invited to tender for live Premier League games as the world's richest football competition does everything in its power to stop TV piracy.
New TV deals in more than 200 overseas nations will earn Premier League clubs more than £2billion for the three-year cycle from 2013-2016 inclusive, bringing in around £5.5bn in total from TV when domestic deals with Sky and BT are included.
This cash is largely spent on massive salaries for stars from Robin Van Persie to Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez to Demba Ba.
Scroll down for more Big draw: Stars like Robin Van Persie pull in the viewersBut the TV deals keep their value only when piracy is kept to a minimum - and imported decoders from Albania have become a major problem in Britain, where it is currently possible to watch Albanian TV's live coverage of Premier League games.
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The League's determination to protect their record-busting revenues from TV deals will be underlined this week as two British men face possible prison sentences for an audacious scheme that made them cash from pirated football footage.
Gary Goodger, a 24-year-old from Reading, and Jack Bannister, a 23-year-old from Burnley, were found guilty respectively of a copyright offence and handling the proceeds of a crime after a six-day trial last month.
Goodger had been operating a website called FreeFootyLive, which broadcast live Premier League games he picked up from foreign feeds with a massive satellite in his backyard in Reading, processed via seven computers and nine satellite decoders found in his home.
The dish, which measured two metres across, was used by Goodger to pick up Premier League games being broadcast live to audiences in the Middle East.
Bannister was hired by Goodger to process payments from his customers.
Brylcreem ready to give cricket the brush-off for slicker Mad MenIn a year when two Ashes series will grip the cricket world, one might expect major brands with links to the sport to try to cash in - but Brylcreem tell me they are reviewing whether to extend their association.
In 2009, England star Kevin Pietersen became the global face of the hair product in a £2m, two-year deal.
Footballer David Beckham had previously been the 'Brylcreem boy', and, before that, footballer Johnny Haynes and cricketer-footballer Denis Compton in the Sixties.
Brylcreem boy: Kevin Pietersen'We have used sport in the past and it's not the case that we definitely won't use sports people again,' said a spokeswoman.
But other options are being considered, including a link to the US TV series Mad Men, about the Madison Avenue advertising company culture of the Sixties.
'We're reviewing the plans, and since Mad Men, we are looking at that kind of [brand ambassador], too. There is no urgency,' say Brylcreem.
Super-rich plan for SilverstoneA company who have helped the FA, the RFU and the ECB sell tens of millions of pounds of debenture seats to wealthy fans at Wembley, Twickenham and Lord's, want to become the new owners of Silverstone, the spiritual home of British motor racing - and market it as a venue for the super-rich.
The International Group are looking for an investor who will inject £12million to be part of their scheme to take a 150-year lease on the 760-acre Silverstone Estate, where the British Grand Prix is staged and is contracted to remain until 2026.
IG claim in documents sent to would-be investors that they are now the preferred bidders to take control at Silverstone and develop the site, owned by the British Racing Drivers' Club, who have been seeking fresh cash for developments for years.
Corporate day out?: Jenson Button in action at SilverstoneIG want trackside villas, a VIP Club and a 'debenture grandstand' in place by 2015, and say: 'There is large un-met demand, especially from large corporates and High Net Worth Individuals who do not have the facilities and services that they currently receive at other iconic venues.'
The IG document to would-be investors offers 'a 30 per cent stake in the new entity that will own Silverstone for £12m. This investment will be used to help pay down the current debt so that the business is debt-free on day one'.
The BRDC declined to comment 'on any details of speculation surrounding potential investors', but confirmed that Silverstone's most recently published debt was £23.5m at the end of 2011.
