Frank Dunne

• IMG has secured big increases in most major markets for Serie A but is still likely to lose money • Agency was given discount for favouring visibility over price in US in ESPN / beIN face-off • O

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV is in discussions to renew rights to three of its most important football properties: the Uefa Champions League, Germany’s Bundesliga and Italy’s Serie A.

A petition by the French tennis federation for the winding up of the MP & Silva agency will be heard at 10.30am on Wednesday, October 10, in the UK’s High Court in London.

The market is about to give its verdict on the Canadian Soccer Association’s ambitious plans for developing the sport, which include the creation of a new commercial arm (Canadian Soccer Business) and the April 2019 launch of a new professional league (the Canadian Premier League).

The IMG agency is expected to sell rights to Major League Soccer across Europe on a market-by-market basis from next season following Eurosport’s decision not to renew its deal for the next four-year c…

Italian state broadcaster Rai acquired extensive free-to-air television highlights and radio rights to the country’s second football division, Lega B, for the next three seasons, 2018-19 to 2020-21, i…

Pay-television platform Sky Italia and Perform Group’s OTT service DAZN will probably both be happy with the outcome of an intense period of rights negotiations in Italy.

The MP & Silva board is to hold an emergency meeting in London early next week to discuss the agency’s future after inaction at ownership level for several months has plunged it into a state of paralysis and led it to miss payments to rights-holders.

The Asian Football Confederation has gambled by awarding its commercial rights to a joint venture of two relative newcomers: Chinese media company Wuhan DDMC Culture and Synergy Sports, the agency set up by former Team Marketing executives Patrick Murphy and David Tyler.

Fifa will exceed its global media-rights target of $3bn (€2.544bn) for the 2018 men’s World Cup tournament by about six per cent, TV Sports Markets understands.