Analysis
Fifa signing direct deals with top five plus Scandinavia
Fifa has agreed or is in the process of agreeing deals for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups in the top five European television countries
How Fifa gave so much to TV and nothing to top agencies
Surprise close to FIFA bidding process
La Liga viewing falls 6 per cent as audiences split
Free-to-air television audiences for live coverage of Spanish football’s La Liga in 2004-05 fell six per cent on the previous season.
What’s a fair price for a listed event with no glamour?
Spanish television’s near-black-out of the final of football’s domestic cup competition, the Copa del Rey, last weekend underlined a major flaw in Spanish listed-events legislation
Italy leads in winning new pay-homes
Pay-television operators in four of the five top European television markets reported growing numbers of subscribers
Canal Plus loses five Serie A clubs to ambitious TV4
Pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus won the rights for 15 of the 20 clubs in Italy’s Serie A football league last week
Agencies strike fast, but FA may do the job itself
Two agencies have put in pre-emptive bids for the rights for the top Swedish league and the national football team
Gadaffi son gets off to slow start with channel plan
Saadi Gadaffi, son of Libyan leader Colonel Muammer Gadaffi, plans to launch a free-to-air sports channel
And that’s well-backed Setanta coming up on the outside
Setanta, the pay and pay-per-view company, has emerged as a major player in the UK and Irish markets
Nine and Fox set to win world cup in first joint bid
Australia’s Channel Nine looks set to acquire the rights for the 2007 rugby World Cup
IMG takes initial lead as final three battle for World Cup
The race to win the 2010 World Cup television rights in Europe, outside of the top five markets, has come down to three agencies
Record deal for Nordic sport
The biggest-ever sports-rights deal in the history of Nordic television was agreed late this week
Japan first to sign Latin American deal
Brazilian and Argentinian world tour friendly matches sold to Japan Sports Marketing
Legal moves
Two main lawyers involved in billion-dollar deal between International Cricket Council and ESS are moving on to new positions
ESS renewal of cricket deals vital for new channel
90-day period of exclusive talks for England & Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe rights exhausted
ESS revenue hit as cable exploits rights victories
Pan-Asian broadcaster in tough talks over continued distribution of its channels in Thailand, following loss of English Premier League football rights to UBC
TV2 set to pick up rights as DR starts crisis fire sale
EBU membership threatened and other Scandinavian public service broadcasters angered by cost-cutting measures
MLB may launch own network if rights talks fail
Major League Baseball is considering the launch of its own cable network to broadcast games covered by its main television-rights package.