Analysis
War of egos fuels Saudi football fees
A bidding war between Arab Radio and Television and Orbit has resulted in an eight-fold increase in television rights fees for Saudi Arabia’s domestic football league.
La Liga is No.2 worldwide league – if only for now
International rights sales for Spanish football’s La Liga are likely to bring in more than €100 million a year.
World champions give new channel record audience
La Sexta’s gamble in acquiring the rights for basketball’s 2006 World Championship proved inspired after the Spanish national team beat Greece in the final.
League gets more cash as top club goes it alone on TV
A new television deal between the Italian basketball league, Lega Basket, and Rupert Murdoch’s Sky Italia was hit by the withdrawal late this week of Virtus Bologna, one of the sport’s biggest clubs.
No winners, lots of losers after Turkish blunder
The controversial presentation ceremony at the end of F1’s Turkish grand prix could lead to a ban of all Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile events in the country.
Apax puzzle as World Rally set to extend rights
ISC, the rights holder of the World Rally Championship, is close to extending its commercial rights contract for a further 10 years.
TV demands compensation in Olympics row
Broadcasters will push for financial compensation from the IOC it changes the traditional timetable at the 2008 Beijing Olympics to meet NBC's demands.
Octagon in buy-out talks
The management of Octagon CSI is understood to be working on a buy-out of the division.
Murdoch’s Indian TV deal could herald ESS break-up
The deal agreed by Star Television to distribute the sports channels of the Nimbus agency could herald the death of ESPN Star Sports.
Royal League may lose its crown as viewers turn off
The board of the Scandinavian Royal League will meet next week to discuss the trend of falling television audiences that threaten the tournament’s future.
RTP forced to lift fees to retain Portuguese team
The Portuguese national team is the latest football property to benefit from the country’s commercial broad-casters’ new interest in sports rights.
Plenty to play for before Italy kicks off season
The Italian match-fixing scandal is continuing to sow confusion in the television-rights market.
Turkey gambles on Euro despite World Cup losses
Turkish commercial broadcaster ATV continued its spending spree on top football.
Sportfive success in Italy may be hard act to follow
The Sportfive agency faces difficult talks in the remaining four big European markets where it has yet to sell the rights for football’s 2008 European Championship.
Why sports have to back broadband
The Champions League matches shown live on television will be shown simultaneously on broadband for the first time.
India cricket may have to wait for mobile millions
The Board of Control for Cricket in India hopes that the sale of its worldwide mobile rights will land it another financial windfall.
Arena deals make life even harder for Premiere
German pay-television operator Premiere is set to lose further ground with the loss of more sports rights contracts to Arena.