Analysis
New sports event helps EA hold its value in EBU renewal
The European Broadcasting Union renewed worldwide rights to European Athletics events over four years at a steady rights fee in a deal agreed late last month.
Pro D2 taps into rugby boom with massive fee increase
The French second-tier rugby union league, the Pro D2, took advantage of strong competition for its rights to secure a massive fee increase in new deals agreed last week.
Nascar helps fill F1 gap for Fox
Restocking its depleted motorsport portfolio with a growing property was a major driver behind Fox Latin America’s renewed and lengthened deal with North American stock car-racing series Nascar last month.
Watching Brief (Vol.99) Special Focus: Rugby Union – Six Nations Championship
BT Sport renews with Premiership Rugby in pre-emptive strike to keep out Sky
UK pay-television broadcaster BT Sport renewed its rights to English Premiership Rugby last week, paying a strong increase in rights fee.
IOC upbeat despite gloomy European outlook
The International Olympic Committee expects to increase the value of its European media rights despite the gloomy economic outlook across much of the continent.
French Open secures big increase in Canada
Canadian pay-television sports broadcasters TSN and RDS trebled their rights fee and their guarantees for coverage of French Open tennis in last week’s renewal.
England games on the market
UK pay-television broadcaster Sky this month tendered rights to England autumn internationals outside the UK, TV Sports Markets understands.
CyTA tops up motorsport content
Cypriot pay-television broadcaster CyTAvision has expanded its motorsport portfolio over the past month, striking two new deals.
Sky gets Mayweather v Pacquiao
Sky this week acquired the UK rights to the fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, beating competition from pay-television boxing channel BoxNation.
TV2 eyeing up Premier League after C More acquisition
TV2 Norway’s deal to buy the C More pay-television operation in Norway last month was driven by a desire to boost subscriber numbers ahead of the upcoming Premier League auction.
Fifa’s Asian deal ensured windfall for Infront and Dentsu
Fifa’s 2014 accounts, published last week, confirmed that the governing body’s deal with the Infront Sports & Media agency and advertising agency Dentsu for the World Cup rights in Asia was an exceptionally profitable one for the two agencies.
ARD/ZDF reduce fee for World Ski Championships
German public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF will pay a smaller rights fee for the Alpine and Nordic World Ski Championships in 2019 and 2021 than they did for 2015 and 2017, following a deal agreed last week.
Tough talks for Uefa in Finland after MTV3 bails
Astro still holds key in Malaysia
The matching-rights clause held by pay-television broadcaster Astro in its previous agreement with the Football Association of Malaysia is continuing to cause complications for the association.
Sony Six believes in wrestling
Indian pay-television channel Sony Six’s decision to extend its deal for TNA Wrestling last month is a strategic buy for a property the channel believes it can develop.
Rights-holders face UK price squeeze
The majority of sports bodies – those below the very top tier – are expected to find it very difficult to secure decent rights fees from the UK for many years to come as a direct result of the spiralling price inflation for Premier League rights.
Fox deal spares Fifa further court appearance and possible exposure of 2022 award process
Fifa avoided the prospect of going back into a US court by agreeing to extend its World Cup rights deal with Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Sports last month. But getting off the legal hook comes at a price, in terms of questions about Fifa’s governance and also, possibly, in having sold the rights at well below market value.