Analysis

Football

Fox International Channels’ decision to sublicense German Bundesliga rights in Japan to the MP & Silva agency surprised industry observers this week. Something seemed to be the wrong way round – agencies buy to sell to broadcasters, not vice versa.

Cycling

The Vuelta a España cycle race earned a strong increase in media-rights fee from the European Broadcasting Union in a five-year deal finalised late last month.

Football

Irish pay-television broadcaster Setanta is thought to be paying less in its deal, agreed last week, for the Uefa Champions League than it does in the current cycle. Overall, however, Uefa has finished with an increase on the current cycle in Ireland thanks to increases in the value of the free-to-air rights.

Cricket

Star India’s new deal for Indian Premier League internet and mobile rights helps the broadcaster in three ways: it gives it vital digital content, helps undermine the exclusivity of rival Sony, and ensures Star has a role in IPL coverage ahead of the sale of the main television rights in India.

Football

The English Football League last week earned a decent increase in the value of its media rights from incumbent rights-holder Sky in a one-year extension last week.

Basketball

ARD and ZDF will pay a decent rights fee, plus broadcast sponsorship, for EuroBasket 2015 rights in Germany - with value driven by the country hosting some matches.

American Football

Mike Kiernan, analyst for SportBusiness Intelligence, looks at television audiences for Super Bowl XLIX

Football

It is not yet clear whether Sky’s 83-per-cent increase in spending on Premier League rights was down to a blockbuster first-round bid to see off BT, a second-round reaction to aggressive BT bidding, or a combination of both.

The €1.05bn ($1.19bn) acquisition by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda of the Infront Sports & Media agency this week is expected to make the agency even more aggressive in the rights market than it has been in the last two years, when it was being fattened up for sale.

Tennis

The International Tennis Federation’s deal for its global Davis Cup and Fed Cup rights with beIN Media Group, agreed last week, is the largest in the federation’s history.

Football

The German Bundesliga is to agree a deal for its global betting and streaming rights in the coming weeks, with an auction due to be held before the end of the month.

Basketball

The National Basketball Association’s exclusive digital rights deal with Chinese internet operator Tencent, agreed late last month, looks to be a landmark one for the country’s media-rights market.

Golf

UK pay-television operator Sky doubled the rights fee for the exclusive domestic rights to golf’s Open Championship last week in order to wrest it from public-service broadcaster the BBC.

Sailing

US network NBC this week agreed a deal to show the 2017 America’s Cup, holding off strong interest in the rights from other US broadcasters. Oracle Team USA is the holder of the Cup.

Ice Hockey

The resurrected World Cup of Hockey will join the National Hockey League on pay-television broadcaster Rogers Sportsnet in Canada following a deal agreed late last month.

Football

MP & Silva fought off competition from rival agencies Dentsu, Infront Sports & Media, and World Sport Group this month to land an advisory deal with the Football Association of Singapore.

Football

The UK pay-television market delivered another sensational boost to English Premier League revenues yesterday with new live domestic media rights deals worth £5.136bn ($7.8bn/€6.9bn) over the three seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Football

The Football Association of Malaysia last week secured an extraordinary deal for the rights to the M-League, the country’s top football league, and other association rights.