Analysis
TV Rights Deals 2: The latest boxing, basketball, motorcycling and squash deals
Boxing: German public service broadcaster ARD extended its television rights deal with boxing promoter Sauerland for one more year, taking it to the end of 2012, paying about €14m ($21m).
English Premier League’s Asian juggernaut keeps on rolling
The English Premier League this week concluded the bulk of its Asian rights sales for the next three-year cycle, from 2010-11 to 2012-13, enjoying major revenue increases in the key markets in defiance of the economic downturn.
Rio: We won’t drag down US value
The strategic adviser for Rio’s successful bid to host the 2016 Olympics has dismissed claims from US network NBC that the US media rights to the Games will be worth significantly less than they would have been had Chicago been chosen.
FASTRACK
Mediapro is close to finalising domestic mobile rights deals for Spanish football’s La Liga, the first such deals to be agreed after a three-year hiatus caused by the football war between Mediapro and Sogecable.
SingTel lands double blow but battle’s not over yet
SingTel’s double victory last week, in agreeing deals for English football’s Premier League and ESPN Star Sports’ bouquet of sports channels, amounts to a changing of the guard in the Singapore market.
Overspill threatens push for cash in China
The collapse of a sublicensing deal designed to boost the English Premier League’s exposure in China has highlighted the difficulties facing the league as it attempts to get both good coverage and high revenues in its next television rights deal.
MP&Silva take on Japanese challenge
MP&Silva was the only agency to succeed in picking up any Premier League rights with deals in Vietnam and Japan.
Sports channels fall victim to Russia’s bear market
The Russian sports broadcasting industry will consolidate from next year, with RTR Sport becoming a general entertainment channel and 7TV dropping all its sports content.
Olympic coup will be profitable for growing SportsMax
SportsMax is confident that it will make a good profit on its recent deal for the 2010 and 2012 Olympics, despite now having to sell on free-to-air rights to many of the same broadcasters it outbid in the original tender process.
National team qualifiers still top free-to-air content
No UK broadcasters were willing to show England’s final 2010 World Cup qualifier against the Ukraine but national team matches are still a sure-fire guarantee of big television audiences.
TV Rights Deals 1: Football: Asian English Premier League deals and more
Football: The English Premier League agreed deals across most of Asia for the next three-year period, from 2010-11 to 2012-13
TV Rights Deals 2: IAAF, basketball, martial arts, Olympics and more
Action Sports: Pan-European broadcaster Eurosport extended its deal with the Alliance of Action Sports, covering live rights in Europe for the Summer and Winter Dew Tours, for another five years
IMG hopes to take struggling A1GP back from the brink
IMG this week said that its new three-year deal to distribute the media rights for A1GP could push the series towards the “tipping point” which could transform the heavily loss-making championship into a success.
New, flexible EBU the perfect partner for sensible Uefa
The EBU's deal for Euro 2012 rights is the most flexible it has ever agreed for a top-tier international sports rights property and marks a further step in its evolution as it continues to adapt to a different market reality.
FASTRACK
Next week’s bidding deadline for English Premier League rights in most of Asia will kick off a frenzied period of activity for the league, with tenders being issued shortly afterwards in Greater China, Africa, Australasia and Europe.
Will Platini’s new Uefa still feature a future for Team?
Uefa’s decision this month to spin off its commercial activities into a separate company was an inevitable extension of the overhaul by Michel Platini – the latest step in his campaign to reassert the primacy of football over commerce.
Kentaro breaking new ground with online England gamble
Kentaro is confident that a record internet pay-per-view audience will justify its decision to reject offers from mainstream UK broadcasters for the rights to England’s final 2010 World Cup qualifier.
Euroleague set to profit from old and new Greek rivalries
Basketball’s Euroleague is poised to agree a three-fold increase in rights fees in Greece, becoming the latest rights-holder to benefit from renewed pay-television competition in the country