Football: UK pay-broadcasters BSkyB and ESPN acquired the rights for the Scottish Premier League in a three-year deal, from 2009-10 to 2011-12, with the league having an option to extend the deal for a further two years to the end of 2013-14. BSkyB and ESPN will show 30 matches each a season. Over the full five-year period, the league will receive £65m (€75m/$105m), with the value of the three-year deal a little under £39m.
The amount is less than half the £138.6m the clubs were due to receive from bankrupt pay-broadcaster Setanta over the same period. The league is still considering legal action to recover £3m in unpaid fees from Setanta shareholders. Top clubs Celtic and Rangers had considered mounting a £25m, two-year bid for the rights, but said they were unable to make a proper proposal “due to the time constraints imposed by [BSkyB and ESPN].”
Football: Pay-operator ESPN acquired the rights in Ireland for two packages of English Premier League rights for the 2009-10 season, covering the same 46 matches it will show in the UK. The rights had come on the market after incumbent Irish pay-broadcaster Setanta went bankrupt.
Football: New pay-operator Setanta Hibernian acquired the live rights in Ireland for a package of 33 English Premier League matches next season, played at 3pm on Saturdays, in a deal worth about €4m ($5.6m).
Football: Swiss public-service broadcaster SRG SSR extended its deal for Champions League rights in a three-year deal, from 2009-10 to 2011-12, brokered by the Team Marketing agency. SRG SSR will show first-choice Tuesday and Wednesday matches on each of its French, Italian and German-language channels, and the Uefa Super Cup. The deal includes new media and radio rights.
Football: DFL Sports Enterprises, the rights-selling arm of the German Bundesliga, agreed new three-year deals in Brazil and Mexico covering the period 2009-10 to 2011-12. In Brazil, ESPN will show three live matches and a highlights show each week, with cable operator Band Sports and direct-to-home operator Esporte Interativo also showing coverage. In Mexico, a deal has been done with TVC Deportes Sports Channel.
Football: US football channel GolTV acquired the North American rights for the 2009 Peace Cup, the international pre-season club competition, held in Andalucía in July and featuring Real Madrid, Juventus, Lyon and Aston Villa.
Football: The Pitch International and Kentaro agencies agreed a deal with English Premier League club Liverpool to distribute its club channel worldwide for the three-year period from 2010-11 to 2012-13.
Football: The IMG agency agreed a deal to distribute the international media rights of Switzerland’s top-tier football league, the Super League, outside Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein in a three-year deal, 2009-10 to 2011-12.
You need to have a subscription to access this content
