Analysis
Thursday Night Football again brings gains for NFL
Increasing the value of its Thursday Night Football rights while dividing content once more illustrates the sheer power of the National Football League.
Servus snares MotoGP in Austria
Servus TV’s acquisition of rights to motorcycling series MotoGP last month has come at a high cost as the commercial broadcaster will share coverage in Austria with Eurosport.
Watching Brief Special Focus: International Sports Viewing 2015
John Manning, research analyst for SportBusiness Intelligence, reviews the most-watched events of 2015 in France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Discovery claws back sizeable chunk of €1.3bn Olympics fee with lucrative BBC deal
Discovery Communications this week recouped more than 10 per cent of its €1.3bn ($1.4bn) investment in Olympic Games rights across Europe by striking a sublicensing deal with the BBC.
Infront facing three-pronged Italian attack
Infront Sports & Media’s Italian football business activities are facing a three-pronged attack which could have major long-term repercussions for the agency’s revenues and undermine its behind-the-scenes influence in the country.
Fiba move could damage Euroleague/IMG plans
Decisions made by national basketball federations to commit clubs to a new Fiba-run competition could scupper IMG’s hopes of refinancing its 10-season, €630m ($682m) joint venture with the Euroleague.
IMG nears Romanian deal
The IMG agency is understood to be close to a deal for English Premier League rights in Romania with sports broadcaster Eurosport.
DEL secures small increase
Germany’s top ice hockey league last week secured a small increase in the value of its media rights following a deal with telco Deutsche Telekom.
Star signs long-term Asia Cup deal after 2014 stop-gap
The Asian Cricket Council earned a big increase in the value of its media rights in a lucrative eight-year deal with pay-television broadcaster Star India.
Lega, Infront, Sky and Mediaset set for antitrust defeat
Italy’s antitrust authority has notified Lega Serie A, Infront Sports & Media, Mediaset and Sky Italia that their behaviour during the auction process for Serie A media rights constituted a breach of European competition law.
Econet to take on SuperSport with aggressive strategy
Start-up pay-television operator Kwese TV is the latest company set to challenge SuperSport in the sub-Saharan market, and its Kwese Sports channel is already battling the dominant sports broadcaster head-on for rights outside South Africa.
Star forces EPL down; Ten signs potentially last I-League deal
Rupert Murdoch-owned Star India has renewed its English Premier League rights in India at a significant discount.
Premier League looks for increased reach in Africa
England’s Premier League is understood to be prioritising reach and distribution over revenue in the sale of its free-to-air rights in sub-Saharan Africa.
Fifa makes gains, both big and small, in key French market
Fifa secured only a small increase in the value of the men’s World Cup in France last month, signing deals with TF1 and beIN Sports for its 2018 and 2022 tournaments.
Bundesliga aiming for huge growth in value across Europe
Germany’s Bundesliga is targeting enormous growth in the value of its media rights across Europe having this week asked media companies to register their interest.
ESPN pays decent increase to renew Australian Open
Tennis Australia has renewed its deal with ESPN for Australian Open rights in Latin America and the Caribbean without putting the rights on the market.
OTE renews Greek Cup rights in federation deal
Greek pay-television broadcaster OTE renewed its domestic media rights to the Greek Cup football competition.
PAOK goes it alone outside Greece
PAOK’s new deal for its international rights could result in the Greek football club remaining excluded from the centralised domestic Superleague deal.