SportBusiness Staff

Ice Hockey

Russian internet company Yandex will look to expand its sports-rights portfolio after acquiring exclusive rights to the National Hockey League in Russia amid fierce competition.
Handball

Pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus has agreed a one-season deal for the rights to the European Handball Federation’s men’s and women’s Champions League, including the Final Four, in Poland. T
Esports

7Sports, the sport business unit of Germany media company ProSiebenSat

Nordic Entertainment (Nent) Group will launch its OTT streaming service Viaplay in Iceland in 2020, meaning the service will be available in all five Nordic countries
Football

The IMG agency has sealed a deal for rights to Spain’s LaLiga, Italy’s Serie A and the US’ Major League Soccer in Sweden with media group Bonnier. The deal signals the end of its OTT experiment in the country as it had previously been broadcasting the properties on its Strive streaming platform.

Danish commercial broadcaster TV2 has announced the launch of a new channel, which will coincide with an expansion of its agreement with the IMG agency for rights to Spain’s LaLiga and Italy’s Serie A.
Tennis

US media group Discovery saw off an aggressive bid from incumbent Match TV to take over exclusive rights in Russia to Women’s Tennis Association events from 2020, completing its tennis set in the country.
Football

Norwegian public-service broadcaster NRK has acquired rights to the Uefa Women’s European Championship in 2021 along with all Norwegian national team qualifying matches to the tournament.
American Football

German media group ProSiebenSat.1 has renewed its free-to-air NFL rights in Germany and Austria, signing a new multi-year contract beginning in the 2020 season

Multi-territory sports broadcaster Setanta Sports has agreed a distribution deal for its newly launched channel in Ukraine with telco Volia