Basking Ridge, N.J. - Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) said on Monday that it has signed deals with the Disney/ABC Television Group (NYSE: DIS) and ESPN, that will bring full-length episodes of shows from ABC Entertainment, ABC News and Disney Channel, as well as content from ESPN, to Verizon Wireless V CAST Video and Mobile Web customers. Subscribers to the $15 per month V CAST service now have access to episodes of "Ugly Betty," "Lost," "Hannah Montana" and "Nightline," among others.

San Francisco - Online ticket marketplace StubHub said on Thursday that it has expanded its relationship with cable sports network ESPN. A year after launching its service across ESPN.com, StubHub said that the partnership now will include television, radio, mobile and more robust online components, as well.

San Diego - The Active Network, a provider of online communities focused on sports and promoting healthy lifestyles, has raised an $80 million, sixth round of venture capital led by Disney's (NYSE: DIS) ESPN, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing.

If you havent read, ESPN has come out and said that they will be aggressively bidding for the retransmission rights for the next available Olympics, which will be in 2016. Notice I didnt say TV rights. The battle for the Olympics rights will be in spreadsheet projections done by ESPN, NBC and probably DirecTV (my guess, not based on any info), that will have to take in to account what revenues can be generated on TV advertising (traditional and interactive), through cable/satellite subscription revenues, an ever increasing market size for mobile video and advertising, and of course audio/video and text advertising of all types.

Los Angeles - Disney's (NYSE: DIS) ESPN plans to launch a new action sports broadband network in the fall, comprised of a grouping of sites dedicated to various sports like skateboarding, motocross and surfing, the Los Angeles Times reported. The ESPN Action Sports Network will also offer original digital programming, and content from partners such as Surfline.com, Vans.com and Active Ride Shop, as well as encourage users to post their own sports videos. "We felt like we were under-delivering on a year-round basis," Dave Finger, director of action sports for ESPN Digital Media, told the Times. "We felt like we were missing out on covering action sports with the same voice and authenticity that we bring to stick and ball."

San Diego - Qualcomm's (NASD: QCOM) MediaFLO USA mobile TV unit said on Monday that it has partnered with ESPN on ESPN Mobile TV and NBC Sports on NBC 2Go to provide live TV coverage of this year's Wimbledon tennis tournament on mobile phones. The 119 hours of live coverage will be available via MediaFLO TV to AT&T Mobile TV subscribers, available in 58 major U.S. markets.

Los Angeles - The United States Tennis Association (USTA) announced on Monday a new deal with ESPN (NYSE: DIS) for the cable TV broadcast and digital rights to the US Open grand slam tennis tournament, ending its 25-year deal with USA Network. The six-year pact, which begins in 2009 and was worth nearly $140, according to the Wall Street Journal, will see ESPN offer 200 hours of US Open coverage. ESPN will also offer live feeds on the ESPN360 broadband service, comprehensive coverage on ESPN.com, and various content on ESPN Mobile.

Basking Ridge, N.J. - Verizon Wireless announced on Friday that Viacom's MTV Tr3s and Disney's ESPN Radio have launched mobile TV channels exclusively for its V CAST Mobile TV service. The company also launched MySpace Mobile, and mobile sites for Viacom's MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and CMT for subscribers to its "Mobile Web 2.0" service.

New York - Disney's (NYSE: DIS) ESPN plans to make its live sporting event broadband video service, ESPN360, free to access to anyone on college campuses or military bases who sign up from an .edu or .mil domain, The New York Times reports. Currently, ESPN360 is only available to subscribers with ISPs who have made deals with ESPN to offer the service, which includes some 20 million broadband customers of AT&T, Verizon, Charter and others. The Times reports that ESPN360 has served just 500,000 viewing hours since last September.