SportBusiness Media staff

Portuguese Primeira Liga football club Benfica will launch a second television channel in October, according to president Luis Filipe Vieira.

Australian commercial broadcaster Nine has agreed a deal with the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for the media rights to the next two Ashes series played in England, according to the Australian Financial Review newspaper.

EHF Marketing, the marketing arm of the European Handball Federation, has agreed a two‐year broadcast deal with Polish pay-television broadcaster NC Plus.

The Autoridade da Concorrência, Portugal’s competition regulator, has said that it will undertake a “thorough investigation” into the proposed new ownership model of pay-television broadcaster Sport TV.

France’s Ligue Nationale de Rugby, which operates the domestic top-tier Top 14 rugby union club competition, will make a decision on whether to cancel its current rights deal with pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus by the middle of October.

Pan-European sports broadcaster Eurosport has launched a new television service in Germany to bolster its coverage of the US Open tennis championships.

US regional pay-television channel Yes Network has agreed a multi-year deal with Manchester City to televise games featuring the English Premier League football club on a tape delay basis.

Australian pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports has acquired exclusive rights for the US Open tennis tournament.

Al Jazeera-owned pay-television broadcaster beIN Sport has acquired rights in France for the Primeira Liga, the top division of football in Portugal.

The South African government is to consider introducing new regulations that would prevent one broadcaster in the country from owning all premium sports programming, according to the Channel24 news website.