Analysis

Basketball: The Sportsman Media Group will sell the international rights for the 2010 Fiba men’s Under-20 and Under-18 European Championships. It is the first time the rights will be sold by an agency.

Football: Portuguese agency PPTV acquired the television and marketing rights for the Portuguese Liga club Sporting Lisbon in a five-year deal, from 2013-14 to 2017-18, worth about €108m ($135m).

German and Spanish audiences for the Tour de France increased by over 20 per cent this year, giving the Amaury Sport Organisation a shot in the arm, with negotiations for a new deal expected before 2011 Tour.

The Venezuelan Premier League switched from free to pay television, earning itself a 20 per cent increase. The IOC has switched from broadcasting union the OTI topay-operator Telesur.

Resurgent competition between pay-television operators Modern Times Group and Canal Plus is driving up fees in the Nordics.

Competition between Sky Italia and Mediaset Premium presents Serie A with an opportunity to enrich itself, but it must be careful of killing off one of the competitors, or forcing them into collusion.

The agency has creatively diced up rights for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A and several other football leagues between broadcasters in Japan and Vietnam in an effort to maximise profits. Results have been mixed.

RCS-RDS wraps up Premier League ... Battling HiTV wins Serie A ... Japan to reclaim Tour's No.1 status ... Crozier's role in ITV rugby win ... Universum seeking ZDF successor.

Prisa-owned pay-television broadcaster Sogecable is seeking international rights deals for La Liga in the expectation that existing deals brokered by the Mediapro agency will be ruled invalid by a court ruling next month.

In exclusive interviews, Lega Serie A president Maurizio Beretta and director general Marco Brunelli explain the blueprint for future rights growth for Italian football's top division.

The German IPTV operator is in talks to buy F1, Serie A and European Tour golf rights, suggesting it could be about to present a bigger challenge to dominant pay-TV operator Sky Deutschland.

World Cup breaks viewing records once again, although average audience falls in four of the European 'Big Five'.

Poland's friendly against Cameroon on August 11 faces a broadcast blackout unless public-service broadcaster TVP can agree a last-minute deal with the Sportfive agency.

The Spanish rights agency's insolvency is being seen as a tactical move, although it has lost Serie A rights after missing a payment.

Figures and comment on online and mobile viewing of the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

Polsat and cable operator RCS-RDS have agreed three-year deals for the 2011 to 2013 seasons.